Ramakrishna Quotes

Different creeds are but different paths to reach the same God.

~ Ramakrishna

What Brahman is cannot be described. All things in the world — the Vedas, the Puranas, the Tantras, the six systems of philosophy — have been defiled, like food that has been touched by the tongue, for they have been read or uttered by the tongue. Only one thing has not been defiled in this way, and that is Brahman. No one has ever been able to say what Brahman is.

~ Ramakrishna

You speak of doing good to the world. Is the world such a small thing? And who are you, pray, to do good to the world? First realise God, see Him by means of spiritual discipline. If He imparts power you can do good to others; otherwise not.

~ Ramakrishna

God has made different religions to suit different aspirants, times, and countries. All doctrines are only so many paths; but a path is by no means God himself. Indeed, one can reach God if one follows any of the paths with whole-hearted devotion...One may eat a cake with icing either straight or sidewise. It will taste sweet either way.

~ Ramakrishna

Only two kinds of people can attain self-knowledge: those who are not encumbered at all with learning, that is to say, whose minds are not over-crowded with thoughts borrowed from others; and those who, after studying all the scriptures and sciences, have come to realise that they know nothing.

~ Ramakrishna

You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say that there are no stars in the heavens during the day? Because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God.

~ Ramakrishna

As long as I live, so long do I learn.

~ Ramakrishna

One man may read the Bhagavata by the light of a lamp, and another may commit a forgery by that very light; but the lamp is unaffected. The sun sheds its light on the wicked as well as on the virtuous.

~ Ramakrishna

God has revealed to me that only the Paramatman, whom the Vedas describe as the Pure Soul, is as immutable as Mount Sumeru, unattached, and beyond pain and pleasure. There is much confusion in this world of His maya. One can by no means say that 'this' will come after 'that' or 'this' will produce 'that'.

~ Ramakrishna

Let's not go into the past.

~ 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.

~ Ramakrishna

Through selfless work, love of God grows in the heart. Then through his grace one realize him in course of time. God can be seen. One can talk to him as I am talking to you.

~ Ramakrishna

Work, apart from devotion or love of God, is helpless and cannot stand alone.

~ Ramakrishna

It is easy to talk on religion, but difficult to practice it.

~ Ramakrishna

Many good sayings are to be found in holy books, but merely reading them will not make one religious.

~ Ramakrishna

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

More are the names of God and infinite are the forms through which He may be approached. In whatever name and form you worship Him, through them you will realise Him.

~ Ramakrishna

God is in all men, but all men are not in God; that is why we suffer.

~ Ramakrishna

If you must be mad, be it not for the things of the world. Be mad with the love of God.

~ Ramakrishna

God is everywhere but He is most manifest in man. So serve man as God. That is as good as worshipping God.

~ Ramakrishna

Many are the names of God and infinite the forms through which He may be approached.

~ Ramakrishna

One must be very particular about telling the truth. Through truth one can realize God.

~ Ramakrishna

If you first fortify yourself with the true knowledge of the Universal Self, and then live in the midst of wealth and worldliness, surely they will in no way affect you.

~ Ramakrishna

The physicians of one class feel the patients and go away, merely prescribing medicine. As they leave the room they simply ask the patient to take the medicine. They are the poorest class of physicians.

~ Ramakrishna

The world is indeed a mixture of truth and make-believe. Discard the make-believe and take the truth.

~ Ramakrishna

Unless one always speaks the truth, one cannot find God Who is the soul of truth.

~ Ramakrishna

Travel in all the four quarters of the earth, yet you will find nothing anywhere. Whatever there is, is only here.

~ 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.

~ Ramakrishna

When the flower blooms, the bees come uninvited.

~ Ramakrishna

If you want to go east, don't go west.

~ Ramakrishna

When one has love for God, one doesn't feel any physical attraction to wife, children, relatives and friends. One retains only compassion for them.

~ Ramakrishna