Ramana Maharshi

Peace is the inner nature of humankind. If you find it within yourself, you will then find it everywhere.

That which is not present in deep dreamless sleep is not real

Self-reform automatically brings about social reform.

What comes will also go. What always is will alone remain.

The grace of the Guru is like an ocean. If one comes with a cup he will only get a cupful. It is no use complaining of the niggardliness of the ocean. The bigger the vessel the more one will be able to carry. It is entirely up to him.

There is neither past nor future. There is only the present. Yesterday was the present to you when you experienced it, and tomorrow will be also the present when you experience it. Therefore, experience takes place only in the present, and beyond experience nothing exists.

We see only the script and not the paper on which the script is written. The paper is there, whether the script is on it or not. To those who look upon the script as real, you have to say that it is unreal - an illusion - since it rests upon the paper. The wise person looks upon both paper and script as one.

It is within your competence to think and thus to get bound or to cease thinking and thus be free.

Grace is ever present. All that is necessary is that you surrender to it.

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

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

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

The state we call realization is simply being oneself, not knowing anything or becoming anything.

You may go on reading any number of books on Meditation. They can only tell you ‘Realize the Self’. The Self cannot be found in books. You have to find it for yourself in yourself.

Beyond the belief that something can be lost, there is nothing to lose.

When your real, effortless, joyful grateful nature is realized, it will not be inconsistent with the ordinary activities of life.

When the mind, one-pointed and fully focused, knows the supreme silence in the Heart, this is true learning.

If you hold this feeling of ‘I’ long enough and strongly enough, the false ‘I’ will vanish leaving only the unbroken awareness of the real, immanent ‘I’, consciousness itself

Of all the thoughts that rise in the mind, the thought 'I' is the first thought.

Willpower should be understood to be the strength of the mind, which makes it capable of meeting success or failure with equanimity. It is not synonymous with certain success. Why should one's attempts always be attended by success? Success breeds arrogance and man's spiritual progress is thus arrested. Failure, on the other hand, is beneficial, inasmuch as it opens his eyes to his limitations and prepares him to surrender himself. Self surrender is synonymous with eternal happiness.

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