Vivekananda Centre London: Inspiring Quotes

Hinduism for Schools

Hindu Quotes

Theme	Quote
Nature of God	"To me God is Truth and Love; God is fearlessness. God is the source of Light and Life…He knows us and our hearts better that we do ourselves." ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Nature of God	"Many are the names of God and infinite forms through which He may be approached. In whatever name and form you worship Him through that you will realise Him." ~ Sri Ramakrishna
Divine Grace	"Be sincere in your practice, words and deeds. You will feel blessed! Practise meditation sincerely and you will understand His infinite Grace. God wants sincerity, truthfulness and love." ~ Sarada Devi
Happiness	"Man's real nature is happiness. His search for happiness is a search for his true Self. When a man finds His true Self, he finds a happiness which does not come to an end." ~ Ramana Maharshi
Respect for Life	"Goodwill toward all beings is the true religion; cherish in your hearts boundless goodwill to all that lives." ~ Buddha
Ignorance	"Just as a piece of rope is imagined to be a snake in darkness, so is the Atman determined to be the body by an ignorant person." ~ Sri Sankara
Renunciation	"Let not thy mind run after the things of this world, for they are empty as dreams. Give thy mind to Me, devote thyself to Me, meditate on Me." ~ Sri Krishna
Strength	"All power is within you; you can do anything and everything. Believe in that; do not believe that you are weak. All power is there. Stand up and express the divinity within you." ~ Swami Vivekananda
Avatars	"As the glow of dawn heralds the rising sun, so unselfishness, purity and righteousness announce the advent of the Lord." ~ Sri Ramakrishna
Mankind	"I am endeavoring to see God through service to humanity, for I know that God is neither in heaven, nor down below, but in everyone." ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Life and Death	"The wise do not grieve for the dead or the living. As the soul passes in this body through childhood, youth and old age. Even so it is taking on another body." ~ Sri Krishna
Pleasure and Pain	"What we want is neither happiness nor misery. Both make us forget our true nature; both are chains, one iron, another gold; behind both is the Atman." ~ Swami Vivekananda
Action	"Perform your duties in an unselfish spirit. Always try to perform your duties without desiring any result. There is no way of renouncing work altogether. So do your work, but surrender the results to God." ~ Sri Ramakrishna
Non Violence	"The path of true non-violence requires more courage than violence." ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Good Deeds	"If a householder gives in charity in a spirit of detachment, he is really doing good to himself and not to others. It is God alone that he serves - God who dwells in al beings." ~ Sri Ramakrishna
Aspiration	"True freedom and happiness is an inner state which you acquire when you are in tune with God who dwells within you. Let the knocks you get in life turn you more and more towards God." ~ Swami Ramdas
Faith	"When God is victorious in your heart, all darkness born of ego sense disappears. There is then nothing but a feast of immortal joy and peace for you." ~ Swami Ramdas
God Realisation	"God realisation is not getting away from the world, but looking upon it as a manifestation of God and serving Him in all creatures and beings, in a state of perfect submission to His will." ~ Swami Ramdas
Human Existence	"That is the whole purpose of human existence here on earth: to benefit other people through one's life, one's possessions, one's thoughts and one's words." ~ Bhagavata Purana X, 22, 35
Nature of God	"As waves, foam and bubbles are not different from water, even so the universe emanating from the Self is not different from it." ~ Ashtavakra Samhita, II, 4
Nature of God	" 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." ~ Sri Ramakrishna
Divine Grace	"As one gets the fragrance of a flower by handling it, or as one gets the smell of sandalwood by rubbing it against a stone, in the same way one gets spiritual awakening by constantly thinking of God." ~ Sarada Devi
Spiritual Progress	"A man who is advancing (spiritually) will begin to enjoy the deeper beatitude whether he is at work or not. While his hands are in society, he keeps his head cool in solitude." ~ Ramana Maharshi
Truth	"Have confidence in the Truth, although you may not be able to comprehend it, although you may suppose its sweetness to be bitter, although you may shrink from it at first. Trust in the Truth." ~ Buddha
Ignorance	"The ignorant long for results and engage in action with the idea of doership and enjoyership. The ignorant are deluded and think 'I act', 'I cause others to act', 'I enjoy', 'I cause others to enjoy' and so on." ~ Sri Sankara
Renunciation	"The sense objects fall off from a man practising abstinence but not the taste for them. But even this taste of the man of steady wisdom ceases when he sees the Supreme." ~ Sri Krishna
Strength	"My friends, as one of your blood, as one that lives and dies with you, let me tell you that we want strength, strength and every time strength. And the Upanishads are the great mine of strength. Therein lies strength enough to invigorate the whole world; the whole world can be vivified, made strong, energised through them." ~ Swami Vivekananda
The Universe	"As from blazing fire, sparks by the thousands issue forth of like form, so from the Imperishable manifold beings are produced, and into it they also return." ~ Mundaka Upanishad, II, 1, 1
Mankind	"The wind of God's grace is incessantly blowing. Lazy sailors on the sea of life do not take advantage of it. But the active and strong always keep the sails of their minds unfurled to catch the favourable wind and thus reach their destination very soon." ~ Sri Ramakrishna
Name of God	"The singing of God's name is extremely victorious: it cleanses the mirror of the mind, it extinguishes the forest fire of samsara, it is the gift of moonshine for the lotus of the heart, it is the power of wisdom, it is a soothing bath for all Selves." ~ Caitanya: Shikshashtaka 1 and 2
Pleasure and Pain	"These (pleasure and pain), are states and states must ever change; but the nature of the soul is bliss, peace, unchanging. We have not to get it, we have it; only wash away the dross and see it." ~ Swami Vivekananda
Action	"To action alone you have a right, never to its fruit; let not the fruits of action be your motive nor let there be in you attachment to inaction. Do your work, abandoning attachment, with an even mind in success and failure." ~ Sri Krishna, BG II 47-8
Non Violence	"I do believe that, where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence. Bu I believe that non violence is infinitely superior to violence, forgiveness is more manly than punishment, Forgiveness adorns the soldier." ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Inner Peace	"Abandoning all desires and acting free from longing, without any sense of mineness or sense of ego one attains peace." ~ Sri Krishna BG II, 71
Faith	"It is faith in the name of the Lord that works wonders; for faith is life and want of faith is death." ~ Sri Ramakrishna
Aspiration	"God is ever after us. He wants to take us to Himself and grant us the highest beatitude. But we try to escape from Him even as a dirt covered child runs away from its mother who wants to bathe it. We are trying to run away from the Divine Mother who wants to purify us and give us the highest bliss. We like playing with the toys of the world, ignoring Her call." ~ Swami Ramdas
The World	"The world is real for the ignorant as well as for the wise; for the ignorant the real is measured by the world, for one who knows the real has no limits and is the foundation of the world. Both say 'I' referring to themselves - the ignorant and the one who knows. For the ignorant the self is defined by the body, the wise knows that within the body the unlimited Self shines with its own splendour." ~ Ramana Maharshi

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