The Best Ramana Maharshi quotes

Silence is also conversation. — Ramana Maharshi

Silence is truth. Silence is bliss. Silence is peace. And hence Silence is the Self. — Ramana Maharshi

True silence is really endless speech. — Ramana Maharshi

Silence is most powerful. Speech is always less powerful than silence. — Ramana Maharshi

There is a state when words cease and silence prevails. — Ramana Maharshi

When one remains without thinking one understands another by means of the universal language of Silence. — Ramana Maharshi

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

You are all searching for the silence of the mountain. But you’re looking for something outside. This silence is accessible to you right now, inside the center of your own being. — Ramana Maharshi

A realized one sends out waves of spiritual influence in his aura, which draw many people towards him. Yet he may sit in a cave and maintain complete silence. — Ramana Maharshi

When we turn the mind inwards, God manifests as the inner consciousness. — Ramana Maharshi

When the mind is left without anything to cling to, it becomes still. — Ramana Maharshi

Bliss is a thing which is always there and is not something which comes and goes. That which comes and goes is a creation of the mind. — Ramana Maharshi

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

Peace is your natural state. It is the mind that obstructs the natural state. — Ramana Maharshi

God illumines the mind and shines within it. One cannot know God by means of the mind. One can but turn the mind inwards and merge it in God. — Ramana Maharshi

Meditation applies the brakes to the mind. — Ramana Maharshi

If one’s mind has peace, the whole world will appear peaceful. — Ramana Maharshi

The Sage has no thinking mind and therefore there are no ‘others’ for him. — Ramana Maharshi

The peace of mind which permeates the saint’s atmosphere is the only means by which the seeker understands the greatness of the saint. — Ramana Maharshi

The pure mind is itself Brahman; it therefore follows that Brahman is not other than the mind of the sage. — Ramana Maharshi

There is nothing wrong with God’s creation. Mystery and Suffering only exist in the mind. — Ramana Maharshi

Mind is a wonderful force inherent in the Self. — Ramana Maharshi

Pleasure and pain are only aspects of the mind. Our essential nature is happiness — Ramana Maharshi

Meditation helps concentration of the mind. Then the mind is free from thoughts and is in the meditated form. — Ramana Maharshi

Even the structure of the atom has been found by the mind. — Ramana Maharshi

Without seeing the origin of light, the true form of one’s Self, the ordinary man sees by the mind different things and is deluded. — Ramana Maharshi

He whose pure mind turns inward and searches whence does this ‘I’ arise, knows the Self and merges in You, the Lord, as a river into the sea. — Ramana Maharshi

Meditation depends upon the strength of mind. It must be unceasing even when one is engaged in work. Particular time for it is meant for novices. — Ramana Maharshi

Food affects the mind. For the practice of any kind of yoga, vegetarianism is absolutely necessary since it makes the mind more pure and harmonious. — Ramana Maharshi

Your true nature is that of infinite spirit. The feeling of limitation is the work of the mind. — Ramana Maharshi

The inquiry ‘who am I’ turns the mind introvert and makes it calm. — Ramana Maharshi

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. — Ramana Maharshi

The source of the ego is God. — Ramana Maharshi

I see only what you see, but I notice what I see. — Ramana Maharshi

Pure Consciousness, which is the Heart, includes all, and nothing is outside or apart from it. That is the ultimate Truth. — Ramana Maharshi

He who has realized the Self in the Heart has transcended the dualities and is never perplexed. — Ramana Maharshi

Mind is but a poor reflection of the radiant Heart. — Ramana Maharshi

Love is verily the heart of all religions. — Ramana Maharshi

It is said that the heart is in the microcosm just as the orb of the sun in the macrocosm. The mind in Sahasrara is like the disc of the moon. — Ramana Maharshi

Dive deep into the chambers of your heart. Find out the real, infinite ‘I’. Rest there peacefully for ever and become identical with the Supreme Self. — Ramana Maharshi

What message is needed when heart speaks to heart? — Ramana Maharshi

When the mind, one–pointed and fully focused, knows the supreme silence in the Heart, this is true learning. — Ramana Maharshi

God’s grace consists in the fact that He shines in the heart of every one as the Self; that power of grace does not exclude any one, whether good or otherwise. — Ramana Maharshi

Call it by any name, God, Self, the Heart, or the Seat of Consciousness, it is all the same. — Ramana Maharshi

An unawakened person sees only his mind, which is merely a reflection of the light of pure consciousness arising from the Heart. — Ramana Maharshi

Calmness is the criterion of spiritual progress. Plunge the purified mind into the Heart. Then the work is over. — Ramana Maharshi

This perception of division between the seer and the object that is seen, is situated in the mind. For those remaining in the heart, the seer becomes one with the sight. — Ramana Maharshi

The seat of Realization is within and the seeker cannot find it as an object outside him. That seat is bliss and is the core of all beings. Hence it is called the Heart. — Ramana Maharshi

The activity affected by causes like fainting, sleep, excessive joy, grief, possession by spirits, fear etc goes to the heart, its own place. — Ramana Maharshi

You know that you know nothing. Find out that knowledge. — Ramana Maharshi

Nearly all mankind is more or less unhappy because nearly all do not know the true Self. Real happiness abides in Self–knowledge alone. All else is fleeting. To know one’s Self is to be blissful always. — Ramana Maharshi

Devotion complete culminates in knowledge supreme. — Ramana Maharshi

The experience of silence alone is the real and perfect knowledge. — Ramana Maharshi

Without knowing the Knower, all the knowledge that one gathers cannot be valid. — Ramana Maharshi

Sense–perceptions can only be indirect knowledge, and not direct knowledge. Only one’s own awareness is direct knowledge. — Ramana Maharshi

Let knowledge be guessed by the sign of equality to all beings. — Ramana Maharshi

I am not the perishable body, but the eternal Self. — Ramana Maharshi

The macrocosm is in its entirety in the body. The body is in its entirety in the heart. Therefore heart is the summarised form of all the macrocosm. — Ramana Maharshi

The entire Universe is condensed in the body, and the entire body in the Heart. Thus the Heart is the nucleus of the whole Universe. — Ramana Maharshi

D.: There are six centres in the body and there are corresponding centres in the world. M.: Yes. What is in the world is in the body; and what is in the body is in the world also. — Ramana Maharshi

Who am I? Not the body, because it is decaying; not the mind, because the brain will decay with the body; not the personality, nor the emotions, for these also will vanish with death. — Ramana Maharshi

Apart from the body does the world exist? Has anyone seen the world without the body? — Ramana Maharshi

Our identification with the mind and body is the chief reason for our failure to know our self as we truly are. — Ramana Maharshi

In truth, you are spirit. The body has been projected by the mind, which itself originates from Spirit. — Ramana Maharshi

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

Turn the mind inward and cease thinking of yourself as the body; thereby you will come to know that the self is ever happy. Neither grief nor misery is experienced in this state. — Ramana Maharshi

He that sees the Lord in the temple, the living body, by seeking Him within, can alone see Him, the Infinite, in the temple of the universe, having become the Endless Eye. — Ramana Maharshi

The man who has the sense of the body being himself cannot possibly worship God as formless; whatever worship he makes will be worship in form alone, not otherwise. — Ramana Maharshi

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

The fact is that you are not the body. The Self does not move but the world moves in it. You are only what you are. — Ramana Maharshi

Let come what comes, let go what goes. See what remains. — Ramana Maharshi

There is no Truth. There is only the truth within each moment. — Ramana Maharshi

The ultimate truth is so simple; it is nothing more than being in one’s natural, original state. — Ramana Maharshi

If you observe awareness steadily, this awareness itself becomes the Guru that will reveal the Truth. — Ramana Maharshi

Instead of indulging in mere speculation, devote yourself here and now to the search for the Truth that is ever within you. — Ramana Maharshi

Truth burns up all karma and frees you from all births. — Ramana Maharshi

All that one gives to others one gives to one’s self. If this truth is understood, who will not give to others? — Ramana Maharshi

Nobody doubts that he exists, though he may doubt the existence of God. If he finds out the truth about himself and discovers his own source, this is all that is required. — Ramana Maharshi

There is neither creation nor destruction, neither destiny nor free will, neither path nor achievement. This is the final truth. — Ramana Maharshi

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

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

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

Good thoughts keep off bad thoughts. They must themselves disappear before the state of realization. — Ramana Maharshi

The ‘I’ thought is said to be the sum total of all thoughts. The source of the ‘I’ thought has to be inquired into. — Ramana Maharshi

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

Of all the thoughts that rise in the mind, the thought ‘I’ is the first thought. — Ramana Maharshi

See what helps you to keep away all other thoughts and adopt that method for your meditation. — Ramana Maharshi

Thoughts come and go. Feelings come and go. Find out what it is that remains. — Ramana Maharshi

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? — Ramana Maharshi

You can only stop the flow of thoughts by refusing to have any interest in it. — Ramana Maharshi

The mind is only a bundle of thoughts. The thoughts have their root in the I–thought. Whoever investigates the True ‘I’ enjoys the stillness of bliss. — Ramana Maharshi

Even in intake, the one steadfast thought is said to be the natural state. Nirvikalpa Samadhi will result when the sensory objects are not present. — Ramana Maharshi

Peace can reign only where there is no disturbance, and disturbance is due to thoughts that arise in the mind. — Ramana Maharshi

The Self is self–luminous without darkness and light, and is the reality which is self–manifest. Therefore, one should not think of it as this or as that. The very thought of thinking will end in bondage. — Ramana Maharshi

The body is the temple; the jiva is God (Siva). If one worships him with the ‘I am He’ thought, one will gain release. — Ramana Maharshi

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

It is said that the I–activity is the root of all activities. From where the I–thought emerges, that in short is the heart. — Ramana Maharshi

Realisation 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 realisation is revealed. — Ramana Maharshi

When one makes the mind stick to one thought, the mind becomes rock–steady and the energy is conserved. — Ramana Maharshi