Sadhana Quotes

We have to live and move and have our being in ahimsa, even as Hitler does in himsa. It is the faith and perseverance and single-mindedness with which he has perfected his weapons of destruction that commands my admiration. That he uses them as a monster is immaterial for our purpose. We have to bring to bear the same single-mindedness and perseverance in evolving our ahimsa. Hitler is awake all the 24 hours of the day in perfecting his sadhana. He wins because he pays the price. His inventions surprise his enemies. But it is his single-minded devotion to his purpose that should be the object of our admiration and emulation. Although he works all his waking hours, his intellect is unclouded and unerring. Are our intellects unclouded and unerring? A mere belief in ahimsa or the charkha will not do. It should be intelligent and creative. If intellect plays a large part in the field of violence, I hold that it plays a larger part in the field of non-violence. (Mahatma Gandhi)

In the case of a beginner the practice of Yoga is often deliberate and requires great determination. But those who are practicing sincerely for many years are intent on self-realization all the time, whether conscious of it or not. Unconscious sadhana is most effective, because it is spontaneous and steady.

Nisargadatta Maharaj

God made me pass through the disciplines of various paths. First according to the Puranas, then according to the Tantra. I also followed the disciplines of the Vedas...I practised all sorts of Sadhana .... During my Sadhana period I had all kinds of amazing visions.

Ramakrishna

Trust is sadguru fully. This is the only sadhana. Sadguru is all the gods.

Sai Baba of Shirdi

Truly there is no cause for you to be miserable and unhappy. You yourself impose limitations on your true nature of infinite Being and then weep that you are but a finite creature. Then you take up this or that sadhana to transcend the nonexistent limitations. But if your sadhana itself assumes the existence of the limitations, how can it help you to transcend them? Hence I say know that you are really the infinite, pure Being, the Self Absolute. You are always that Self and nothing but that Self. Therefore, you can never be really ignorant of the Self; your ignorance is merely a formal ignorance... Know then that true Knowledge does not create a new Being for you; it only removes your "ignorant ignorance." Bliss is not added to your nature; it is merely revealed as your true and natural state, eternal and imperishable. The only way to be rid of your grief is to know and be the Self.

Ramana Maharshi

I am a musician's musician and am passionate about my sarangi. I shall continue my battle for the cause of the sarangi. I will be reborn to continue my sadhana until the battle is won.

Ram Narayan

Do not leave Japa and Sadhana even for a day. Adjust and adapt. Bear insult and injury. Learn to forget trifles. Tactfully move with people. Train everyone in Bhajan and Kirtan. Create spiritual vibrations wherever you go. Then you will find peace, joy, happiness and prosperity. There will be joy in all faces. This is the way for harmony. When you are agitated and irritated, take to Japa or leave the place for some time. Love all and serve all.

Swami Sivananda

It took me decades to appreciate the depth and true value of Yoga. Sacred texts supported my discoveries, but it was not that signposted the way. What I learned through yoga, I found out through yoga. I am not however, a " self made man”. I am only what seventy-two years of devoted yoga sadhana has created out of me. Any contribution I have made to the world has been the fruit of my sadhana.

B.K.S. Iyengar

He was a one-person movement...we will strive to keep his Sadhana (legacy) alive. He has achieved eternal peace. He was open to everyone even till his last breath.

B.K.S. Iyengar

Titles or awards are not the mark of your success. They are the beginning of a life-long sadhana. Learning should never stop. Discipline of riyaz is a must if you are serious about pursuing an art.

Shreya Ghoshal

It is useless to tell the missionaries that Hindu sâdhanâ has nothing to do with buying a piece of land, building some stylised houses on it, exhibiting pretentious signboards, putting on a particular type of dress, and performing certain rituals in a particular way. Hindu sâdhanâ has been and remains a far deeper and difficult undertaking. It means being busy with one's own self rather than with saving others. It means clearing the dirt and dross within one's own self rather than calling on others to swear by a totem trotted out as the only saviour. It has no place for abominable superstitions like the atoning death of a so-called chirst. Above all, it is not consistent with double-talk-harbouring one motive in the heart and mouthing another. A counterfeit must remain a counterfeit, howsoever loudly and lavishly advertised. It is a sacrilege that those who are out to cheat and deceive should use the word "sâdhanâ" for their evil exercise. (Sita Ram Goel)

Alert and vigilant living itself is a `Sadhana' in the true sense.

Chinmayananda Saraswati

The halo of Fr. Damian was before me,[he said] and I knew that Sadhana would nurse me.

Baba Amte

Human birth is the highest. It is for attaining liberation. If we don't consciously try for liberation, then we are misusing our human birth.Every action, thought, and word should be spiritual. It happens only when the mind is purified by sadhana (spiritual practice).

Baba Hari Dass

What kind of food you eat, how much you eat, how you eat, turning it from a compulsive pattern into a conscious process: this is the essence of fasting. Sadhana.

Jaggi Vasudev

(...) In every Age people reached salvation through different types of action and sadhana (spiritual practice), but in this Age one can reach liberation only through hard work. (...) We need not consider religion or caste, but only look to hard work.

Haidakhan Babaji

In early 1971 I received preliminary copies of the book [Be Here Now] in India. When it was read to Maharaji-ji (Neem Karoli), he told me to change some of the parts about Hari Dass Baba, who had been my sadhana tutor while I lived in Kainchi that first year.

Baba Hari Dass

Enlightenment never happens. It is there; it is always there. The sadhana that you do is just to see it is there. You are not doing sadhana to construct divinity within you. All you will construct is only ego.

Jaggi Vasudev