Background Image
You See Many Stars In The Sky At Night, But Not When The Sun Rises. Can You Therefore Say That There Are No Stars In The Heavens During The Day? Because You Cannot Find God In The Days Of Your Ignorance, Say Not That There Is No God.
-Ramakrishna
Please Wait....
Translating....

You See Many Stars

Ramakrishna
You See Many Stars In The Sky At Night, But Not When The Sun Rises. Can You Therefore Say That There Are No Stars In The Heavens During The Day? Because You Cannot Find God In The Days Of Your Ignorance, Say Not That There Is No God.
Views: 92782
Topic
Stars
Ignorance
Night
More From Ramakrishna
Through Selfless Work, Love Of God Grows In Heart.
Heart
Selfless
God Love
Finish The Few Duties You Have At Hand, And Then You Will Have Peace.
Hands
Duty
God Can Be Realized Through All Paths. All Religions Are True. The Important Thing Is To Reach The Roof. You Can Reach It By Stone Stairs Or By Wooden Stairs Or By Bamboo Steps Or By A Rope. You Can Also Climb Up By A Bamboo Pole.
Important
Rope
Bamboo
Unless One Always Speaks The Truth, One Cannot Find God Who Is The Soul Of Truth.
Soul
Speak
Speak The Truth
Whoever Wants God Intensely, Finds Him. Go And Verify It In Your Own Life.
Life
Inspirational Life
Want
Take The Case Of The Infinite Ocean. There Is No Limit To Its Water. Suppose A Pot Is Immersed In It: There Is Water Both Inside And Outside The Pot. The Jnani Sees That Both Inside And Outside There Is Nothing But Paramatman. Then What Is This Pot? It Is 'i-consciousness'. Because Of The Pot The Water Appears To Be Divided Into Two Parts; Because Of The Pot You Seem To Perceive An Inside And An Outside. One Feels That Way As Long As This Pot Of 'i' Exists. When The 'i' Disappears, What Is Remains. That Cannot Be Described In Words.
Ocean
Two
Long
When The Flower Blooms, The Bees Come Uninvited.
Inspirational
Flower
Bees
Different Creeds Are But Different Paths To Reach The Same God.
Path
Different
Creeds
So Many Religions, So Many Paths To Reach The One And The Same Goal.
Religious
Goal
Religion
Sunlight Is One And The Same Wherever It Falls; But Only A Bright Surface Like That Of Water, Or Of A Mirror Reflects It Fully. So Is The Light Divine. It Falls Equally And Impartially On All Hearts, But The Pure And Pious Hearts Of Holy Men Receive And Reflect That Light Well.
Fall
Heart
Men
Brahman Is Beyond Mind And Speech, Beyond Concentration And Meditation, Beyond The Knower, The Known And Knowledge, Beyond Even The Conception Of The Real And Unreal. In Short, It Is Beyond All Relativity.
Real
Meditation
Mind
What Brahman Is Cannot Be Described. All Things In The World — The Vedas, The Puranas, The Tantras, The Six Systems Of Philosophy — Have Been Defiled, Like Food That Has Been Touched By The Tongue, For They Have Been Read Or Uttered By The Tongue. Only One Thing Has Not Been Defiled In This Way, And That Is Brahman. No One Has Ever Been Able To Say What Brahman Is.
Philosophy
Vedas
World
It Is On Account Of The Ego That One Is Not Able To See God. In Front Of The Door Of God's Mansion Lies The Stump Of Ego. One Cannot Enter The Mansion Without Jumping Over The Stump.
Lying
Jumping
Doors
Imagine A Limitless Expanse Of Water: Above And Below, Before And Behind, Right And Left, Everywhere There Is Water. In That Water Is Placed A Jar Filled With Water. There Is Water Inside The Jar And Water Outside, But The Jar Is Still There. The 'i' Is The Jar.
Water
Jars
Imagine
A Devotee Who Can Call On God While Living A Householder's Life Is A Hero Indeed. God Thinks: 'he Is Blessed Indeed Who Prays To Me In The Midst Of His Worldly Duties. He Is Trying To Find Me, Overcoming A Great Obstacle -- Pushing Away, As It Were, A Huge Block Of Stone Weighing A Ton. Such A Man Is A Real Hero.
Prayer
Block
Real
One Must Be Very Particular About Telling The Truth. Through Truth One Can Realize God.
God
Realizing
Telling The Truth
The Winds Of Grace Are Always Blowing, But You Have To Raise The Sail.
Wind
Grace
Sail
The World Is Indeed A Mixture Of Truth And Make-believe. Discard The Make-believe And Take The Truth.
Believe
World
Mixtures
Do Not Be Small Minded. Do Not Pray For Gourds And Pumpkins From God, When You Should Be Asking For Pure Love And Pure Knowledge To Dawn Within Every Heart.
Love
Heart
Dawn
All Religions Are True. God Can Be Reached By Different Religions. Many Rivers Flow By Many Ways But They Fall Into The Sea. They All Are One.
Fall
Sea
Rivers
Many Good Sayings Are To Be Found In Holy Books, But Merely Reading Them Will Not Make One Religious.
Religious
Book
Reading
If Diving Once Does Not Bring You Pearls, You Need Not Therefore Conclude That The Sea Is Without Them.
Healing
Sea
Doe
The Man Who Works For Others, Without Any Selfish Motive, Really Does Good To Himself.
Selfish
Men
Doe
The Waves Belong To The Ganges, Not The Ganges To The Waves. A Man Cannot Realize God Unless He Gets Rid Of All Such Egotistic Ideas As "i Am Such An Important Man" Or "i Am So And So". Level The Mound Of "i" To The Ground By Dissolving It With Tears Of Devotion.
Men
Ideas
Important
It Is Very Pleasant To Scratch An Itching Ring-worm, But The Sensation One Gets Afterwards Is Very Painful And Intolerable. In The Same Way The Pleasures Of This World Are Very Attractive In The Beginning, But Their Consequences Are Terrible To Contemplate And Hard To Endure.
World
Way
Scratches
Live In The World Like A Waterfowl. The Water Clings To The Bird, But The Bird Shakes It Off. Live In The World Like A Mudfish. The Fish Lives In The Mud, But Its Skin Is Always Bright And Shiny.
Water
Bird
Skins
The Truth Is That You Cannot Attain God If You Have Even A Trace Of Desire. Subtle Is The Way Of Dharma. If You Are Trying To Thread A Needle, You Will Not Succeed If The Thread Has Even A Slight Fiber Sticking Out.
Desire
Trying
Way
So Long As One Does Not Become Simple Like A Child, One Does Not Get Divine Illumination. Forget All The Worldly Knowledge That Thou Hast Acquired And Become As A Child, And Then Will Thou Get The Divine Wisdom.
Children
Simple
Illumination
A Man Is Truly Free, Even Here In This Embodied State, If He Knows That God Is The True Agent And He By Himself Is Powerless To Do Anything.
Men
Agents
States
Why Does God Allow Evil In The World? To Thicken The Plot.
Evil
Doe
Plot
As For Myself, I Look Upon All Women As My Mother. This Is A Very Pure Attitude Of Mind. There Is No Risk Or Danger In It. To Look Upon A Woman As One's Sister Is Also Not Bad. But The Other Attitudes Are Very Difficult And Dangerous. It Is Almost Impossible To Keep To The Purity Of The Ideal.
Inspirational
Mother
Attitude
You Should Not Feel That Your Path Is The Only Right Path And That Other Paths Are Wrong. You Mustn't Bear Malice Toward Others.
Path
Bears
Should
When The Head Of A Goat Is Severed From Its Body, The Trunk Struggles For Some Time, Still Showing Signs Of Life. Similarly, Though Ahamkara (egotism) Is Slain In The Perfect Man, Yet Enough Of Its Vitality Is Left To Make Him Carry On The Functions Of Physical Life; But It Is Not Sufficient To Bind Him Again Into The World.
Struggle
Men
Perfect
If A Man Prays To Thee With A Yearning Heart, He Can Reach Thee, Through Thy Grace, By Any Path.
Heart
Men
Grace
He Is Born In Vain, Who Having Attained The Human Birth, So Difficult To Get, Does Not Attempt To Realize God In This Very Life.
Doe
Birth
Realizing
If One Has Faith, One Has Everything.
Have Faith
Ifs
Men Are Like Pillow-cases. The Colour Of One May Be Red, That Of Another Blue, And That Of The Third Black; But All Contain The Same Cotton Within. So It Is With Man; One Is Beautiful, Another Is Ugly, A Third Holy, And A Fourth Wicked; But The Divine Being Dwells In Them All.
Beautiful
Men
Blue
The Sun Can Give Heat And Light To The Whole World, But He Cannot Do So When The Clouds Shut Out His Rays. Similarly As Long As Egotism Veils The Heart, God Cannot Shine Upon It.
Heart
Clouds
Light
Bondage And Liberation Are Of The Mind Alone.
Mind
Bondage
Liberation
Unalloyed Love Of God Is The Essential Thing. All Else Is Unreal.
Essentials
God Love
Unreal
At A Certain Stage In The Path Of Devotion, The Devotee Finds Satisfaction In God With Form, And At Another Stage, In God Without It.
Satisfaction
Path
Devotion
Bhakti Is The One Essential Thing. To Be Sure, God Exists In All Beings. Who, Then Is A Devotee? He Whose Mind Dwells On God. But This Is Not Possible As Long As One Has Egotism And Vanity. The Water Of God's Grace Cannot Collect On The High Mound Of Egotism. It Runs Down.
Running
Vanity
Long
The Tree Laden With Fruits Always Bends Low. If You Wish To Be Great, Be Lowly And Meek.
Motivational
Tree
Wish
Sugar And Sand May Be Mixed Together, But The Ant Rejects The Sand And Goes Off With The Sugar Grain; So Pious Men Lift The Good From The Bad.
Men
Together
May
You See Many Stars In The Sky At Night, But Not When The Sun Rises. Can You Therefore Say That There Are No Stars In The Heavens During The Day? Because You Cannot Find God In The Days Of Your Ignorance, Say Not That There Is No God.
Stars
Ignorance
Night
Bondage Is Of The Mind; Freedom Too Is Of The Mind. If You Say 'i Am A Free Soul. I Am A Son Of God Who Can Bind Me' Free You Shall Be.
Son
Mind Freedom
Soul
If A White Cloth Is Stained Even With A Small Spot, The Stain Appears Very Ugly Indeed. So The Smallest Fault Of A Holy Man Becomes Painfully Prominent.
Men
White
Ugly
I Have Now Come To A Stage Of Realization In Which I See That God Is Walking In Every Human Form And Manifesting Himself Alike Through The Sage And The Sinner, The Virtuous And The Vicious. Therefore When I Meet Different People I Say To Myself, “god In The Form Of The Saint, God In The Form Of The Sinner, God In The Form Of The Righteous, God In The Form Of The Unrighteous.
People
Different
Saint
The Young Bamboo Can Be Easily Bent, But The Full Grown Bamboo Breaks When It Is Bent With Force. It Is Easy To Bend The Young Heart Towards God, But The Untrained Heart Of The Old Escapes The Hold Whenever It Is So Drawn.
Heart
Bamboo
Easy
Those Whose Spiritual Awareness Has Been Awakened Never Make A False Move. They Don't Have To Avoid Evil. They Are So Replete With Love That Whatever They Do Is A Good Action. They Are Fully Conscious That They Are Not The Doer Of Their Actions, But Only Servants Of God.
Love
Spiritual
Moving
God Is In All Men, But All Men Are Not In God; That Is Why We Suffer.
Inspirational
Men
Suffering
Spirituality Automatically Leads To Humility. When A Flower Develops Into A Fruit, The Petals Drop Off On Its Own. When One Becomes Spiritual, The Ego Vanishes Gradually On Its Own. A Tree Laden With Fruits Always Bends Low. Humility Is A Sign Of Greatness.
Spiritual
Wisdom
Flower
The Fabled Musk Deer Searches The World Over For The Source Of The Scent Which Comes From Itself.
World
Scent
Deer
The Ordinary Man Says In His Ignorance, "my Religion Is The Sole Religion, My Religion Is The Best." But When His Heart Is Illuminated By The True Knowledge, He Knows That Beyond All The Battles Of Sects And Of Sectaries Presides The One, Indivisible, Eternal And Omnipresent Benediction.
Heart
Ignorance
Men
We Laugh At The Efforts Of The Musk Deer To Find The Source Of The Scent Which Comes From Itself And Despair At Our Efforts To Find The Peace Which Is Our Essence.
Essence
Laughing
Effort
As A Boy Holding To A Post Or A Pillar Whirls About It With Headlong Speed Without Any Fear Or Falling, So Perform Your Worldly Duties, Fixing Your Hold Firmly Upon God, And You Will Be Free From Danger.
Fall
Boys
Fixing
If You Spent One-tenth Of The Time You Devoted To Distractions Like Chasing Women Or Making Money To Spiritual Practice, You Would Be Enlightened In A Few Years.
Spiritual
Years
Practice
The World Is Impermanent. [all Things Change. Knowing This Helps You See The End Of Any Difficulty And Thereby Have Hope.]
Knowing
World
Helping
Wisdom Leads To Unity, But Ignorance To Separation. So Long As God Seems To Be Outside And Far Away, There Is Ignorance. But When God Is Realised Within, That Is True Knowledge.
Ignorance
Long
Meditation
You Must Know That There Are Different Tastes. There Are Also Different Powers Of Digestion... Different Temperaments... Differences In The Capacity To Comprehend.
Differences
Different
Taste
Men Bound Hand And Foot In The Endless Chain Of Cause & Effect Cannot Free Each Other.
Men
Feet
Hands
When The Divine Vision Is Attained, All Appear Equal; And There Remains No Distinction Of Good And Bad, Or Of High And Low.
Vision
Divine
Lows
Disease Is The Tax Which The Soul Pays For The Body, As The Tenant Pays House-rent For The Use Of The House.
House
Soul
Body
The Goal Of Life Is Not The Earning Of Money, But The Service Of God.p.114
Goal
Earning
Life Is
If You Desire To Be Pure, Have Firm Faith, And Slowly Go On With Your Devotional Practices Without Wasting Your Energy In Useless Scriptural Discussions And Arguments. Your Little Brain Will Otherwise Be Muddled.
Practice
Brain
Desire
You Should Love Everyone Because God Dwells In All Beings.
God
Should
Love Everyone
Man Needs A Guru. But A Man Must Have Faith In The Guru's Words. He Succeeds In Spiritual Life By Looking On His Guru As God Himself.
Spiritual
Men
Needs
Who Is Whose Guru? God Alone Is The Guide And Guru Of The Universe.
Guru
Guides
Universe
Little Children Play With Dolls In The Outer Room Just As They Like, Without Any Care Of Fear Or Restraint; But As Soon As Their Mother Comes In, They Throw Aside Their Dolls And Run To Her Crying, "mamma, Mamma." You Too, Are Now Playing In This Material World, Infatuated With The Dolls Of Wealth, Honour, Fame, Etc., If However, You Once See Your Divine Mother, You Will Not Afterwards Find Pleasure In All These. Throwing Them All Aside, You Will Run To Her.
Mother
Running
Children
Knowledge Leads To Unity, But Ignorance To Diversity.
Ignorance
Knowledge
Diversity
Pray To God That Your Attachment To Such Transitory Things As Wealth, Name, And Creature Comforts May Become Less And Less Every Day.
Attachment
Names
Comfort
Longing Is Like The Rosy Dawn. After The Dawn Out Comes The Sun. Longing Is Followed By The Vision Of God.
Vision
Dawn
Sun
It Is Easy To Talk On Religion, But Difficult To Practice It.
Practice
Easy
Difficult
The Winds Of God's Grace Are Always Blowing, It Is For Us To Raise Our Sails.
Inspirational
Wind
Grace
A Truly Religious Man Should Think That Other Religions Also Have Many Paths Leading To The Truth. One Should Always Maintain An Attitude Of Respect Towards Other Religions. Dispute Not, As You Rest Firmly On Your Own Faith And Opinion, Allow Others Also Equal Liberty To Stand By Their Own Faith And Opinion.
Religious
Attitude
Men
The Physicians Of One Class Feel The Patients And Go Away, Merely Prescribing Medicine. As They Leave The Room They Simply Ask The Patient To Take The Medicine. They Are The Poorest Class Of Physicians.
Class
Medicine
Going Away
One Cannot Attain Divine Knowledge Till One Gets Rid Of Pride. Water Does Not Stay On The Top Of A Mound; But Into Low Land It Flows In Torrents From All Sides.
Pride
Land
Water
The Breeze Of Grace Is Always Blowing On You. You Have To Open The Sails And Your Boat Will Move Forward.
Moving
Grace
Boat
All Will Surely Realize God. All Will Be Liberated. It May Be That Some Get Their Meal In The Morning, Some At Noon, And Some In The Evening; But None Will Go Without Food. All, Without Any Exception, Will Certainly Know Their Real Self.
Morning
Real
Self
God Reveals Himself To A Devotee Who Feels Drawn To Him By The Combined Force Of These Three Attractions: The Attraction Of Worldly Possessions For The Worldly Man, The Child's Attraction For Its Mother, And The Husband's Attraction For The Chaste Wife. If One Feels Drawn To Him By The Combined Force Of These Three Attractions, Then Through It One Can Attain Him.
Mother
Children
Husband
The Magnetic Needle Always Points To The North, And Hence It Is That Sailing Vessel Does Not Lose Her Direction. So Long As The Heart Of Man Is Directed Towards God, He Cannot Be Lost In The Ocean Of Worldliness.
Ocean
Heart
Men
Only Two Kinds Of People Can Attain Self-knowledge: Those Who Are Not Encumbered At All With Learning, That Is To Say, Whose Minds Are Not Over-crowded With Thoughts Borrowed From Others; And Those Who, After Studying All The Scriptures And Sciences, Have Come To Realise That They Know Nothing.
Inspirational
Self
Two
One Should Not Think, 'my Religion Alone Is The Right Path And Other Religions Are False.' God Can Be Realized By Means Of All Paths. It Is Enough To Have Sincere Yearning For God. Infinite Are The Paths And Infinite Are The Opinions.
Mean
Thinking
Religion
So Long As The Bee Is Outside The Petals Of The Lily, And Has Not Tasted The Sweetness Of Its Honey, It Hovers Around The Flower Emitting The Buzzing Sound; But When It Is Inside The Flower, It Noiselessly Drinks The Nectar. So Long As A Man Quarrels And Disputes About Doctrines And Dogmas, He Has Not Tasted The Nectar Of True Faith; When He Has Tasted It, He Becomes Quiet And Full Of Peace.
Faith
Peace
Flower
An Ocean Of Bliss May Rain Down From The Heavens, But If You Hold Up Only A Thimble, That Is All You Receive
Rain
Ocean
Heaven
To Work Without Attachment Is To Work Without The Expectation Of Reward Or Fear Of Any Punishment In This World Or The Next. Work So Done Is A Means To The End, And God Is The End.
Mean
Attachment
Punishment
Too Much Study Of The Scriptures Does More Harm Than Good. The Important Thing Is To Know The Essence Of The Scriptures. After That, What Is The Need Of Books? One Should Learn The Essence And Then Dive Deep In Order To Realize God.
God
Book
Learning
If You Want To Go East, Don't Go West.
East
Want
West
When One Has Love For God, One Doesn't Feel Any Physical Attraction To Wife, Children, Relatives And Friends. One Retains Only Compassion For Them.
Children
Compassion
Relatives And Friends
It Is The Mind That Makes One Wise Or Ignorant, Bound Or Emancipated.
Wise
Ignorant
Mind
These People Are Like ... A Frog Living In A Well, Who Has Never Seen The Outside World. He Knows Only His Well, So He Will Not Believe That There Is Such A Thing As The World. Likewise, People Talk So Much About The World Because They Have Not Known The Joy Of God.
Believe
People
Joy
It's Enough To Have Faith In One Aspect Of God. But Never Get Into Your Head That Your Faith Alone Is True And Every Other Is False.
Faith
Have Faith
Enough
I Have No Disciple. I Am The Servant Of The Servant Of Rama .
Rama
Servant
Disciple
As The Snake Is Separate From Its Slough, Even So Is The Spirit Separate From The Body.
Snakes
Body
Spirit
What Is The Use Of Merely Listening To Lectures? The Real Thing Is Practice.
Real
Persistence
Practice
If You Must Be Mad, Be It Not For The Things Of The World. Be Mad With The Love Of God.
God
Mad
World
The Breeze Of Grace Is Always Blowing; Set Your Sail To Catch That Breeze.
Determination
Persistence
Grace
By The Mind One Is Bound; By The Mind One Is Freed. ... He Who Asserts With Strong Conviction: "i Am Not Bound, I Am Free," Becomes Free.
Strong
Mind
Conviction
Pray To Him Anyway You Like, He Can Even Hear The Footfall Of An Ant.
Ants
Praying
Infinite Are The Paths And Infinite The Opinions.
Journey
Path
Opinion
One Day, It Was Suddenly Revealed To Me That Everything Is Pure Spirit.
One Day
Spirit
Pure
The Compassion That You See In The Kindhearted Is God's Compassion. He Has Given It To Them To Protect The Helpless.
Compassion
Given
Protect
The Grace Of God Is A Wind Which Is Always Blowing.
God
Wind
Grace
It's Enough To Have Faith In One Aspect Of God. You Have Faith In God Without Form. That Is Very Good. But Never Get Into Your Head That Your Faith Alone Is True And Every Other Is False. Know For Certain That God Without Form Is Real And That God With Form Is Also Real. Then Hold Fast To Whichever Faith Appeals To You.
Real
Have Faith
Faith In God
Great Men Have The Nature Of A Child.
Children
Greatness
Men
With Sincerity And Earnestness One Can Realize God Through All Religions.
Realizing
Sincerity
Earnestness
When The Fruit Appears The Blossom Drops Off. Love Of God Is The Fruit, And Rituals Are The Blossom.
Fruit
God Love
Ritual
More Are The Names Of God And Infinite Are The Forms Through Which He May Be Approached. In Whatever Name And Form You Worship Him, Through Them You Will Realise Him.
Hypocrite
Names
May
The Fool Who Repeats Again And Again: "i Am Bound, I Am Bound," Remains In Bondage. He Who Repeats Day And Night: "i Am A Sinner, I Am A Sinner," Becomes A Sinner Indeed.
Night
Guilt
Fool
Honour Both Spirit And Form, The Sentiment Within As Well As The Symbol Without.
Spirit
Form
Wells
With Sincerity And Earnestness One Can Realize God Through All Religions. The Vaishnavas Will Realize God, And So Will The Saktas, The Vedantists, And The Brahmos. The Mussalmans And Christians Will Realize Him Too. All Will Certainly Realize God If They Are Earnest And Sincere.
Christian
Realizing
Sincerity
Different People Call On [god] By Different Names: Some As Allah, Some As God, And Others As Krishna, Siva, And Brahman. It Is Like The Water In A Lake. Some Drink It At One Place And Call It 'jal', Others At Another Place And Call It 'pani', And Still Others At A Third Place And Call It 'water'. The Hindus Call It 'jal', The Christians 'water', And The Moslems 'pani'. But It Is One And The Same Thing.
Christian
Lakes
Names
He Who Is Called Krishna Is Also Siva And The Primal Sakti...he Again, Who Is Called Jesus And Allah. Truth Is One.
Jesus
Truth Is
Krishna
That Knowledge Which Purifies The Mind And Heart Alone Is True Knowledge, All Else Is Only A Negation Of Knowledge.
Heart
Mind
True Knowledge
God Has Created The World In Play, As It Were.
Play
World
As The Shell, The Pith And The Kernel Of The Fruit Are All Produced Form One Parent Seed Of The Tree, So From The One Lord Is Produced The Whole Of Creation, Animate And Inanimate, Spiritual And Material.
Spiritual
Tree
Parent
A Man Develops A Subtle Power As A Result Of The Strict Observance Of Celibacy For Twelve Years. Then He Can Understand And Grasp Very Subtle Things Which Otherwise Elude His Intellect. Through That Understanding The Aspirant Can Have Direct Vision Of God. That Pure Understanding Alone Enables Him To Realize Truth.
Inspirational
Men
Years
Dwell, O Mind, Within Yourself; Enter No Other's Home. If You But Seek There, You Will Find All You Are Searching For. God, The True Philosopher's Stone, Who Answers Every Prayer, Lies Hidden Deep Within Your Heart, The Richest Gem Of All. How Many Pearls And Precious Stones Are Scattered All About The Outer Court That Lies Before The Chamber Of Your Heart!
Spiritual
Prayer
Lying
God Has Revealed To Me That Only The Paramatman, Whom The Vedas Describe As The Pure Soul, Is As Immutable As Mount Sumeru, Unattached, And Beyond Pain And Pleasure. There Is Much Confusion In This World Of His Maya. One Can By No Means Say That 'this' Will Come After 'that' Or 'this' Will Produce 'that'.
Pain
Mean
Confusion
If There Are Errors In Other Religions, That Is None Of Our Business. God, To Whom The World Belongs, Takes Care Of That.
Errors
World
Care
Through Selfless Work, Love Of God Grows In The Heart. Then Through His Grace One Realize Him In Course Of Time. God Can Be Seen. One Can Talk To Him As I Am Talking To You.
Heart
Talking
Grace
As For Me, I Consider Myself As A Speck Of The Dust Of The Devotee's Feet.
Feet
Dust
Specks
Make Your Meditation A Continuous State Of Mind. A Great Worship Is Going On All The Time, So Nothing Should Be Neglected Or Excluded From Your Constant Meditative Awareness.
Meditation
Mind
Worship
A Bath In Ganges Undoubtedly Absolves One Of All Sins; But What Does That Avail? They Say That The Sins Perch On Trees Along The Banks Of The Ganges. No Sooner Does The Man Come Back From The Holy Waters That The Old Sins Jump On His Shoulders From The Trees. The Same Old Sins Take Possession Of Him Again. He Is Hardly Out Of The Waters Before They Fall Upon Him.
Fall
Men
Water
The Way Of Love Is As True As The Way Of Knowledge. All Paths Ultimately Lead To The Same Truth. But As Long As God Keeps The Feeling Of Ego In Us, It Is Easier To Follow The Path Of Love.
Love
Long
Ego
God Laughs On Two Occasions. He Laughs When The Physician Says To The Patient's Mother, 'don't Be Afraid, Mother; I Shall Certainly Cure Your Boy.' God Laughs, Saying To Himself, 'i Am Going To Take His Life, And This Man Says He Will Save It!' The Physician Thinks He Is The Master, Forgetting That God Is The Master. God Laughs Again When Two Brothers Divide Their Land With A String, Saying To Each Other, 'this Side Is Mine And That Side Is Yours.' He Laughs And Says To Himself, 'the Whole Universe Belongs To Me, But They Say They Own This Portion Or That Portion.'
Mother
Brother
Boys
Work, Apart From Devotion Or Love Of God, Is Helpless And Cannot Stand Alone.
Devotion To God
God Love
Stand Alone
It Is Not Lust Alone That One Should Be Afraid Of In The Life Of The World. There Is Also Anger. Anger Arises When Obstacles Are Placed In The Way Of Desire.
Anger
Lust
Desire
How Long Do Small Girls Play With Their Dolls? As Long As They Are Not Married And Do Not Live With Their Husbands. After Marriage They Put The Dolls Away In A Box. What Further Need Is There Of Worshipping The Image After The Vision Of God?
Girl
Husband
Play
Once A Person Has Faith, He Has Achieved Everything.
Have Faith
Persons
The World Is Impermanent. One Should Constantly Remember Death.
World
Remember
Should
If You First Fortify Yourself With The True Knowledge Of The Universal Self, And Then Live In The Midst Of Wealth And Worldliness, Surely They Will In No Way Affect You.
Self
Way
Firsts
Those Who Wish To Attain God And Progress In Religious Devotion, Should Particularly Guard Themselves Against The Snares Of Lust And Wealth. Otherwise They Can Never Attain Perfection.
Religious
Perfection
Lust
Common Men Talk Bagfuls Of Religion But Do Not Practise Even A Grain Of It. The Wise Man Speaks A Little, Even Though His Whole Life Is Religion Expressed In Action.
Wise
Men
Littles
Right Discrimination Is Of Two Kinds Analytical And Synthetical. The First Leads One From The Phenomena To The Absolute Brahman, While By The Second One Knows How The Absolute Brahman Appears As The Universe.
Two
Firsts
Kind
The Vanities Of All Others May Gradually Die Out, But The Vanity Of A Saint Regarding His Sainthood Is Hard Indeed To Wear Away.
Vanity
Saint
May
Man Suffers Through Lack Of Faith In God.
Men
Suffering
Faith In God
Travel In All The Four Quarters Of The Earth, You Will Find Nothing (no True Religion) Anywhere. Whatever There Is, Is Only Here (i .e . In One 's Own Heart.)
Travel
Earth
Four
The Rishis Of Old Attained The Knowledge Of Brahman. One Cannot Have This So Long As There Is The Slightest Trace Of Worldliness. How Hard The Rishis Laboured ! Early In The Morning They Would Go Away From The Hermitage, And Would Spend The Whole Day In Solitude, Meditating On Brahman. At Night They Would Return To The Hermitage And Eat A Little Fruit Or Roots. They Kept Their Mind Aloof From The Objects Of Sight, Hearing, Touch, And Other Things Of A Worldly Nature. Only Thus Did They Realize Brahman As Their Own Inner Conciousness.
Morning
Night
Sight
Do Yourself What You Wish Others To Do.
Wish
God Cannot Be Realizxd If There Is The Slightest Trace Of Pride.
Humility
Pride
Ifs
One Cannot Be Spiritual As Long As One Has Shame, Hatred, Or Fear.
Spiritual
Long
Hatred
One Man May Read The Bhagavata By The Light Of A Lamp, And Another May Commit A Forgery By That Very Light; But The Lamp Is Unaffected. The Sun Sheds Its Light On The Wicked As Well As On The Virtuous.
Inspirational
Men
Light
Forgiveness Is The True Nature Of The Ascetic.
True Nature
There Are Three Kinds Of Love; Unselfish, Mutual, And Selfish. The Unselfish Love Is Of The Highest Kind; The Lover Only Minds The Welfare Of The Beloved And Does Not Care For His Own Sufferings. In Mutual Love The Lover Not Only Wants The Happiness Of His Beloved; But Has An Eye Towards His Own Happiness Also. It Is Middling. The Selfish Love Is The Lowest. It Only Looks Towards Its Own Happiness, No Matter Whether The Beloved Suffers Weal Or Woe.
Selfish
Eye
Love Is
When An Unbaked Pot Is Broken, The Potter Can Use The Mud To Make A New One; But When A Baked One Is Broken, He Cannot Do The Same Any Longer. So When A Person Dies In A State Of Ignorance, He Is Born Again; But When He Becomes Well Baked In The Fire Of True Knowledge And Dies A Perfect Man, He Is Not Born Again.
Ignorance
Men
Fire
As A Piece Of Rope, When Burnt, Retains Its Form, But Cannot Serve To Bind, So Is The Ego Which Is Burnt By The Fire Of Supreme Knowledge.
Fire
Ego
Rope
The Ego Is Like The Root Of A Banyan Tree, You Think You Have Removed It All Then One Fine Morning You See A Sprout Flourishing Again.
Morning
Thinking
Roots
Try To Cultivate Love Of God. You Are Born As A Human Being Only To Attain Divine Love.
Love
Trying
Divine
Dislodging A Green Nut From It's Shell Is Almost Impossible, But Let It Dry And The Lightest Tap Will Do It.
Nuts
Shells
Dry
If You Meditate On Your Ideal, You Will Acquire Its Nature. If You Think Of God Day And Night, You Will Acquire The Nature Of God.
God
Night
Thinking
The Winds Of Grace Blow All The Time. All We Need To Do Is Set Our Sails.
Blow
Wind
Grace
One Cannot Completely Get Rid Of The Six Passions: Lust, Anger, Greed, And The Like. Therefore One Should Direct Them To God. If You Must Have Desire And Greed, Then You Should Desire Love Of God And Be Greedy To Attain Him.
Anger
Passion
Desire Love
God In The Form Of The Saint, God In The Form Of The Sinner, God In The Form Of The Righteous, God In The Form Of The Unrighteous.
Saint
Form
Righteous
It Is True That God Is Even In The Tiger, But We Must Not Go And Face The Animal. So It Is True That God Dwells Even In The Most Wicked, But It Is Not Meet That We Should Associate With The Wicked.
Animal
Wicked
Faces
Many People Think They Cannot Have Knowledge Or Understanding Of God Without Reading Books. But Hearing Is Better Than Reading, And Seeing Is Better Than Hearing. Hearing About Benares Is Different From Reading About It; But Seeing Benares Is Different From Either Hearing Or Reading.
Book
Reading
Thinking
The Supreme Purpose And Goal For Human Life... Is To Cultivate Love.
Goal
Purpose
Life Is
Meditate Upon The Knowledge And Bliss Eternal , And You Will Also Have Bliss. The Bliss Indeed Is Eternal, Only It Is Covered And Obscured By Ignorance. The Less Your Attachment Is Towards The Senses, The More Will Be Your Love Towards God .
Ignorance
Attachment
Bliss
To Work Without Attachment Is To Work Without The Expectation Of Reward.
Attachment
Expectations
Rewards
If You Feel Proud, Let It Be In The Thought That You Are The Servant Of God, The Son Of God. Great Men Have The Nature Of A Child. They Are Always A Child Before Him; So They Are Free From Pride. All Their Strength Is Of God And Not Their Own. It Belongs To Him And Comes From Him.
Children
Pride
Son
Live Like A Mud-fish: Its Skin Is Bright And Shiny Even Though It Lives In Mud.
Advice
Skins
Mud
Have Love For Everyone, No One Is Other Than You.
Love
As Long As I Live, So Long Do I Learn.
Long
If You Keep Your Heart Immersed Always In The Depth Of That Holy Love, Your Heart Is Sure To Remain Ever Full To Overflowing With The Divine Fervour Of Sacred Love.
Love
Ocean
Heart
The World Is Not Impermanent If One Lives There After Knowing God.
Motivational
Knowing
World
A Boat May Stay In Water, But Water Should Not Stay In Boat. A Spiritual Aspirant May Live In The World, But The World Should Not Live Within Him.
Spiritual
Water
World
As A Toy Fruit Or A Toy Elephant Reminds One Of The Real Fruit And The Living Animal, So Do The Images That Are Worshipped Remind One Of The God Who Is Formless And Eternal.
Real
Animal
Elephants
God Is Everywhere But He Is Most Manifest In Man. So Serve Man As God. That Is As Good As Worshipping God.
Men
Worship
Manifest
The Waves Belong To The Water. Does The Water Belong To The Waves?
Water
Ego
Doe
When You Meditate, Go Into The Solitude Of A Forest, Or A Quiet Corner, And Enter Into The Chamber Of Your Heart. And Always Keep Your Power Of Discrimination Awake.
Heart
Meditation
Solitude
You Speak Of Doing Good To The World. Is The World Such A Small Thing? And Who Are You, Pray, To Do Good To The World? First Realise God, See Him By Means Of Spiritual Discipline. If He Imparts Power You Can Do Good To Others; Otherwise Not.
Spiritual
Mean
Discipline
Who May Be Called A Paramahamsa? He Who, Like A Swan, Can Take The Milk From A Mixture Of Milk And Water, Leaving Aside The Water. He Who, Like An Ant, Can Take The Sugar From A Mixture Of Sugar And Sand, Leaving Aside The Sand.
Swans
Water
Leaving
Respect Is Heaven, Respect Is Liberation.
Heaven
Liberation
All Troubles Come To An End When The Ego Dies
Ego
Trouble
Ends
Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.


2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.


2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.


2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.


3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.


3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.


3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.



4. Proper Usage of Quotes


4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.


4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.


4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).


5. Common Mistakes to Avoid


5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.


5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.


5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.



6. Quotes in Different Contexts


6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.


6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.


6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.



7. Punctuation and Formatting


Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:


Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.


Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.


Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.



8. Ethical Considerations


Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes


Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.



Conclusion


Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.


Trending Author
Eddie Van Halen
Patton Oswalt
Malcolm Muggeridge
Salmon P. Chase
Barbara Deming
Tommy Cooper
Category
Information