Like the practice of breath control, meditation on the forms of God, repetition of mantras, food restrictions, etc., are but aids for rendering the mind quiescent.
Ramana MaharshiRead
Think of God; attachments will gradually drop away. If you wait till all desires disappear before starting your devotion and prayer, you will have to wait for a very long time indeed.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Focusing on God helps to reduce worldly attachments and desires.
This quote emphasizes the importance of engaging in devotion and prayer without waiting for all desires to vanish. It suggests that the act of seeking a deeper connection with God can help individuals let go of their attachments over time, rather than postponing spiritual practices until they feel completely free of desires, which may take an indefinite amount of time.
Themes
GodAttachmentsDevotionDesiresSpirituality
In practice
Example use cases
During a spiritual retreat, this quote can inspire participants to pursue their practices without the pressure of perfection.
More from Ramana Maharshi
All quotes →The mind of one meditating on a single object becomes one-pointed. And one-pointedness of mind leads to abidance in the self. Real attainment is to be fully conscious, to be aware of surroundings and the people around, to move among them all, but not to merge consciousness in the environment. One should remain in inner independent awareness.
Ramana MaharshiRead
You need not aspire for or get any new state. Get rid of your present thoughts, that is all.
Ramana MaharshiRead
Realisation is not acquisition of anything new nor is it a new faculty. It is only removal of all camouflage
Ramana MaharshiRead
Bliss is a thing which is always there and is not something which comes and goes. That which comes and goes is a creation of the mind.
Ramana MaharshiRead
The thing to do is to concentrate on the seer and not on the seen, not on the objects, but on the Light which reveals them.
Ramana MaharshiRead
Similar quotes
Economic and military power can be developed under the spur of laws and appropriations. But moral power does not derive from any act of Congress. It depends on the relations of a people to their God. It is the churches to which we must look to develop the resources for the great moral offensive that is required to make human rights secure, and to win a just and lasting peace.
John Foster DullesRead
There is not one redeeming feature in our superstition of Christianity. It has made one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites.
Thomas JeffersonRead
Making fake biography, false history, concocting a half-imaginary existence out of the actual drama of my life is my life.
Philip RothRead
We thank Him less by words than by the serene happiness of silent acceptance. It is our emptiness in the presence of His reality, our silence in the presence of His infinitely rich silence, our joy in the bosom of the serene darkness in which His light holds us absorbed, it is all this that praises Him.
Thomas MertonRead
Properly speaking, all true work is religion.
Thomas CarlyleRead
Give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt
JuvenalRead