Home > Work > The Essential Swami Ramdas

The Essential Swami Ramdas QUOTES

The Essential Swami Ramdas QUOTES

1 " What is Self-realization? It is giving up the pretension that you are not the Self, that you are a mere body. People say to me, 'You are God Himself.' I reply, 'You are also He.' 'We are not He'-they rejoin. What else is this, but that they simulate and, for some lila of their own, hide behind a mask their real and divine nature? "

― , The Essential Swami Ramdas

2 " True service is possible only when the self-conscious individual loses his egoistic sense of 'actorship' by merging his self-interest in the common weal and welfare of the world. Now his life-interest is identical with the interest of all. This exalted humility can be achieved by realizing the eternal fact that an omnipotent power, which is inherent in all creatures and beings, is actuating the individual life and all its actions.

Humility leads to self-surrender, i.e., an attitude of submission to the will and purpose of God, who is the source of infinite power that controls all the movements in the universe. "

― , The Essential Swami Ramdas

3 " Self-surrender means that we throw the whole burden of life, our anxieties and sorrows on the Supreme Lord who is the Master of all and keep our mind filled with calmness and peace that comes from His constant remembrance.

Cling to the Lord in all situations. Do not worry about anything. thing. Have complete trust in God. Give up all superstitious notions. Do not mind the opinions of the world about you. Court the society of pure and noble souls. Whenever changes come in your life, take them that they come by God's will alone. Take to the changes naturally and cheerfully.
We are ever under God's care and protection. We are never forsaken. God is all love. We have doubts about this because we are not conscious of His love. Let us know once and for all that He is our sole refuge. "

― , The Essential Swami Ramdas

4 " An active life is perfectly in keeping with Self-realization and divine service. What is needed is a total dedication of your entire life to Him. In all situations maintain a steady consciousness of Divinity within and about you. Do not harass your mind with thoughts of weakness. Infinite strength is within you. Drawing inspiration and power from this source, be cheerful and contented at all times. Let the Name of the Lord dwell ever in your mind! "

― , The Essential Swami Ramdas

5 " Student: How does Self-realization of an individual help society?

Ramdas: By Self-realization you become happy inwardly and therefore seek nothing from outside. So, your activities flow out only for the uplift and good of others. A man who is discontented within seeks for external things in order to get happiness, and so doing, harms society. He thinks he will get happiness from external objects.

When you have found true happiness by realizing the Self, that is, by realizing that your true nature is absolute peace and bliss, you are not in conflict with anybody, your vision is equal and your activities turn to the service of everyone. Then it is that you become the true instrument of God. "

― , The Essential Swami Ramdas

6 " Out of the travails through which the world is passing, a new order is bound to emerge based on a knowledge of the universal Spirit. But this cannot be achieved by the efforts of politicians, diplomats, and administrators whose vision is warped by narrow considerations of personal, national, and racial self-interest. The transformation can be brought about only by divinely inspired saints and sages who have experienced the universal vision of Truth or God, who are perfectly selfless and whose hearts are ever filled with love for all.

(...)

International conflicts, religious wrangles, social injustices, economic exploitations, and political tyrannies are all found, in the ultimate analysis, to spring from selfishness born of the failure to realize the unity and universality of the Spirit. "

― , The Essential Swami Ramdas

7 " God is an artist par excellence. He has painted the picturesque universe on the screen of His own immutable and glowing Spirit. So He is at once the painter and the painted. In the ultimate analysis, God and His lover, God and His devotee and servant, are He. The unmanifest--which is beyond all duality has become both. This secret few know. "

― , The Essential Swami Ramdas

8 " God is ever busy in freeing you from the tangle of worldly friendship and attachments which are in their very nature unstable and unreliable, and, therefore, bring you nothing but sorrows and anxieties. Let this experience teach you that if there is one whom you can entirely trust and for whom you should offer the love of an undivided heart, it should be the supreme Lord Himself who has His eternal seat in your heart.

God is all merciful. Pray to Him. '0 God, lead me from the unreal to the Real; from darkness to Light; from death to Immortality.' When He makes you pass through many a painful ordeal of life, it is only to awaken you to the ultimate Reality. "

― , The Essential Swami Ramdas