Ramakrishna quotes

Ramakrishna was an Indian mystic and spiritual leader, revered for his deep devotion and profound religious experiences. His teachings emphasized the unity of all religions and inspired countless followers, including Swami Vivekananda. He remains a major influence on modern Indian spirituality and religious thought. Here are 196 of his quotes:

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. (Ramakrishna)
Unless one always speaks the truth, one cannot find God Who is the soul of truth. View quote
Ramakrishna
If you want to go east, don't go west. View quote
Ramakrishna
God is in all men, but all men are not in God; that is why we suffer. View quote
Ramakrishna
You see many stars at night in the sky but find them not when the sun rises can you say that there are no stars in the heaven of the day So, O man as you behold not God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God. View quote
Ramakrishna
Who is whose Guru? God alone is the guide and Guru of the universe. View quote
Ramakrishna
As the snake is separate from its slough, even so is the Spirit separate from the body. View quote
Ramakrishna
As for me, I consider myself as a speck of the dust of the devotee's feet. View quote
Ramakrishna
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. View quote
Ramakrishna
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. View quote
Ramakrishna
Knowledge leads to unity, and Ignorance to diversity. (Ramakrishna)
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. View quote
Ramakrishna
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. View quote
Ramakrishna
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. View quote
Ramakrishna
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. View quote
Ramakrishna
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. View quote
Ramakrishna
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. View quote
Ramakrishna
God is everywhere but He is most manifest in man. So serve man as God. That is as good as worshipping God. View quote
Ramakrishna
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. View quote
Ramakrishna
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 the opinions. View quote
Ramakrishna
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. (Ramakrishna)
As long as I live, so long do I learn. View quote
Ramakrishna
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. View quote
Ramakrishna
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. View quote
Ramakrishna
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. View quote
Ramakrishna