Eknath Easwaran quotes - page 2

Eknath Easwaran was an Indian-born spiritual teacher, author, and translator known for his accessible writings on meditation and world mysticism. His books made ancient spiritual texts and meditation practices approachable for modern audiences. He inspired thousands worldwide through his teaching, writing, and the founding of the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation. Here are 53 of his quotes:

The real essentials of life - compassion, kindness, good will, forgiveness - are what is fundamental to living as a true human being.

Eknath Easwaran

The things we think about, brood on, dwell on, and exult over influence our life in a thousand ways. When we can actually choose the direction of our thoughts instead of just letting them run along the grooves of conditioned thinking, we become the masters of our own lives.

Eknath Easwaran

Today, everything I do from morning meditation on - eating breakfast, going for a walk, writing, reading, even recreation - is governed by one purpose only: how to give the very best account of my life that I can in the service of all.

Eknath Easwaran

When we truly are putting others first, we cannot but feel at peace with ourselves.

Eknath Easwaran

To enjoy anything, we cannot be attached to it... What we usually try to do is capture any joy that comes our way before it can escape... We try to cling to pleasure, but all we succeed in doing is making ourselves frustrated because, whatever it promises, pleasure simply cannot last. But if I am willing to kiss the joy as it flies, I say, "Yes, this moment is beautiful. I won't grab it. I'll let it go."

Eknath Easwaran

Meditation may require a lifetime to master, but it will have been a lifetime well spent. ... If you want to judge your progress, ask yourself these questions: Am I more loving? Is my judgment sounder? Do I have more energy? Can my mind remain calm under provocation? Am I free from the conditioning of anger, fear, and greed? Spiritual awareness reveals itself as eloquently in character development and selfless action as in mystical states.

Eknath Easwaran

Wherever people gather for selfless ends, there is a vast augmentation of their individual capacities. Something wonderful, something momentous happens. An irresistible force begins to move, which, though we may not see it, is going to change our world. In this lies the power and the meaning of spiritual companionship.

Eknath Easwaran

To be secure everywhere is the mark of sophistication, to be unshakable is the mark of courage, to be permanently in love with every person is the mark of masculinity or femininity, to forgive is the mark of strength, to govern our senses and passions is the mark of freedom.

Eknath Easwaran

It is not action or effort that we must surrender; it is self-will, and this is terribly difficult. You must do your best constantly, yet never allow yourself to become involved in whether things work out the way you want.

Eknath Easwaran

Every human heart has a deep need to love - to be in love, really, with all of life. This is the kind of love that comes when the mind is still. . . . Be still and know that we are all God's children; then you will be in love with all.

Eknath Easwaran

As meditation deepens, compulsions, cravings and fits of emotion begin to lose their power to dictate our behavior. We see clearly that choices are possible; we can say yes or we can say no. It is profoundly liberating.

Eknath Easwaran

Wisdom may be perennial, but to see its relevance we must see it lived out.

Eknath Easwaran

This is the central principle of meditation: we become what we meditate on.

Eknath Easwaran

Activity is not achievement. It is not enough to rush about beginning a lot of things and keeping busy. A well-spent life is one that rounds out what it has begun.

Eknath Easwaran

The ancestor of every destructive action, every destructive decision, is a negative thought.

Eknath Easwaran

Excitement and depression, fortune and misfortune, pleasure and pain are storms in a tiny private, shell-bound realm - which we take to be the whole of existence. Yet we can break out of this shell and enter a new world.

Eknath Easwaran

Everything beautiful has to be worked for.

Eknath Easwaran

As we get deeper, we move closer and closer to other people; we feel closer to life as a whole.

Eknath Easwaran

Don't think the purpose of meditation is to go deep into consciousness, wrap a blanket around yourself, and say, 'How cozy! I'm going to curl up in here by myself; let the world burn.' Not at all. We go deep into meditation so that we can reach out further and further to the world outside.

Eknath Easwaran

We can all learn to conquer hatred through love -drawing on the power released through the practice of meditation to throw all our weight, all our energy, and all our will on the side of what is patient, forgiving, and selfless in ourselves and others.

Eknath Easwaran

Imagine a hot tub for the mind. That is what meditation is; it can bathe your mind in relaxing thoughts.

Eknath Easwaran

By removing that which is petty and self-seeking, we bring forth all that is glorious and mindful of the whole.

Eknath Easwaran