110+ Ramana Maharshi Quotes On Silence, Death And Mind

Ramana Maharshi was an Indian sage and philosopher who was born in Tiruchuli, India in 1879. He is considered one of the greatest spiritual teachers of the modern era, and his teachings have been highly influential in both Hinduism and Advaita Vedanta. He is known for his emphasis on self-inquiry, leading to the realization of one's own true nature as the source of all knowledge and understanding. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Ramana Maharshi on silence, love, death.

Top 10 Ramana Maharshi Quotes

1. Thoughts come and go. Feelings come and go. Find out what it is that remains.
2. Your true nature is that of infinite spirit. The feeling of limitation is the work of the mind.
3. Your own Self-realization is the greatest service you can render the world.
4. Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside.
5. The greatest obstacle to enlightenment is getting past your delusion that you are not already enlightened.
6. Forgetfulness of your real nature is true death; remembrance of it is rebirth.
7. Mind is consciousness which has put on limitations. You are originally unlimited and perfect. Later you take on limitations and become the mind.
8. Have faith in God and in yourself; that will cure all. Hope for the best, expect the best, toil for the best and everything will come right for you in the end.
9. The entire Universe is condensed in the body, and the entire body in the Heart. Thus the Heart is the nucleus of the whole Universe.
10. You are the Supreme Being, and yet thinking yourself to be separate from it, you strive to become united with it. What is stranger than this?

Ramana Maharshi Short Quotes

• Transforming yourself is a means of giving light to the whole world.
• Let what comes come, let what goes go.
• Grace is ever present. All that is necessary is that you surrender to it.
• That which is not present in deep dreamless sleep is not real
• There is nothing new to gain. On the other hand a man must lose his ignorance. That is all.
• There is no greater mystery than this, that we keep seeking reality though in fact we are reality.
• To know one's Self is to be blissful always.
• Beyond the belief that something can be lost, there is nothing to lose.
• All that exists is but the manifestation of the Supreme Being.
• The inquiry "who am I" turns the mind introvert and makes it calm.

Ramana Maharshi Quotes About Silence

Silence is never-ending speech. Vocal speech obstructs the other speech of silence. In silence one is in intimate contact with the surroundings. Language is only a medium for communicating one's thoughts to another. Silence is ever speaking. — Ramana Maharshi

A realized one sends out waves of spiritual influence in his aura, which draw many people towards him. Yet he may sit in a cave and maintain complete silence. — Ramana Maharshi

When one remains without thinking one understands another by means of the universal language of Silence. — Ramana Maharshi

Silence is also conversation. — Ramana Maharshi

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

Silence is most powerful. Speech is always less powerful than silence. — Ramana Maharshi

You are all searching for the silence of the mountain. But you're looking for something outside. This silence is accessible to you right now, inside the center of your own being. — Ramana Maharshi

Silence is truth. Silence is bliss. Silence is peace. And hence Silence is the Self. — Ramana Maharshi

The experience of silence alone is the real and perfect knowledge. — Ramana Maharshi

There is a state when words cease and silence prevails. — Ramana Maharshi

Ramana Maharshi Quotes About Love

Instead of indulging in mere speculation, devote yourself here and now to the search for the Truth that is ever within you. — Ramana Maharshi

Whatever is done lovingly, with righteous purity and with peace of mind, is a good action. Everything which is done with the stain of desire and with agitation filling the mind is classified as a bad action. — Ramana Maharshi

Love is verily the heart of all religions. — Ramana Maharshi

The end of all wisdom is love, love, love. — Ramana Maharshi

Ramana Maharshi Quotes About Mind

You have to ask yourself the question 'Who am I?' This investigation will lead in the end to the discovery of something within you which is behind the mind. Solve that great problem and you will solve all other problems. — Ramana Maharshi

Meditation depends upon the strength of mind. It must be unceasing even when one is engaged in work. Particular time for it is meant for novices. — Ramana Maharshi

Meditation is sticking to one thought. That single thought keeps away other thoughts; distraction of mind is a sign of its weakness; by constant meditation it gains strength. — Ramana Maharshi

The Self is the heart, self-luminous. Illumination arises from the heart and reaches the brain, which is the seat of the mind. The world is seen with the mind; so you see the world by the reflected light of the Self. — Ramana Maharshi

There is nothing wrong with God's creation. Mystery and Suffering only exist in the mind. — Ramana Maharshi

The ultimate truth is so simple. It is nothing more than being in the pristine state. This is all that needs to be said. Only mature minds can grasp the simple truth in all its nakedness. — Ramana Maharshi

Peace can reign only where there is no disturbance, and disturbance is due to thoughts that arise in the mind. — Ramana Maharshi

God illumines the mind and shines within it. One cannot know God by means of the mind. One can but turn the mind inwards and merge it in God. — Ramana Maharshi

Pleasure and pain are only aspects of the mind. Our essential nature is happiness — Ramana Maharshi

Food affects the mind. For the practice of any kind of yoga, vegetarianism is absolutely necessary since it makes the mind more pure and harmonious. — Ramana Maharshi

Ramana Maharshi Quotes About Self

Your duty is to Be, and not to be this or that. — Ramana Maharshi

The fact is that you are not the body. The Self does not move but the world moves in it. You are only what you are. — Ramana Maharshi

By the inquiry 'Who am I?'. The thought 'who am I?' will destroy all other thoughts, and like the stick used for stirring the burning pyre, it will itself in the end get destroyed. Then, there will arise Self-realization. — Ramana Maharshi

You are already That which you seek. — Ramana Maharshi

Under whatever name or form we worship It, It leads us on to knowledge of the nameless, formless Absolute. Yet, to see one's true Self in the Absolute, to subside into It and be one with "It, this is the true Knowledge of the Truth. — Ramana Maharshi

The Self is here and now, it is the only Reality. There is nothing else. — Ramana Maharshi

Nearly all mankind is more or less unhappy because nearly all do not know the true Self. Real happiness abides in Self-knowledge alone. All else is fleeting. To know one's Self is to be blissful always. — Ramana Maharshi

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. — Ramana Maharshi

The state of self-realization, as we call it, is not attaining something new or reaching some goal which is far away, but simply being that which you always are and which you always have been. — Ramana Maharshi

Our identification with the mind and body is the chief reason for our failure to know our self as we truly are. — Ramana Maharshi

Ramana Maharshi Quotes About God

God's grace consists in the fact that He shines in the heart of every one as the Self; that power of grace does not exclude any one, whether good or otherwise. — Ramana Maharshi

The man who has the sense of the body being himself cannot possibly worship God as formless; whatever worship he makes will be worship in form alone, not otherwise. — Ramana Maharshi

Suffering is the way for Realization of God. — Ramana Maharshi

'I Am' is the name of God, God is none other than the Self. — Ramana Maharshi

Guru, God and Self are One — Ramana Maharshi

All are seeing God always. But they do not know it. — Ramana Maharshi

Nobody doubts that he exists, though he may doubt the existence of God. If he finds out the truth about himself and discovers his own source, this is all that is required. — Ramana Maharshi

Seeing God without seeing the Self, one sees only mental image. Only he who has seen Himself has seen God, since he has lost individuality, and now sees nothing but God. — Ramana Maharshi

When we turn the mind inwards, God manifests as the inner consciousness. — Ramana Maharshi

The source of the ego is God. — Ramana Maharshi

Ramana Maharshi Quotes About Meditation

Realisation is nothing new to be acquired. It is already there, but obstructed by a screen of thoughts. All our attempts are directed to lifting this screen and then realisation is revealed. — Ramana Maharshi

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

Meditation applies the brakes to the mind. — Ramana Maharshi

Your duty is to be, and not to be this or that. I Am That I Am sums up the whole truth; the method is summarized in Be Still. — Ramana Maharshi

The main factor in meditation is to keep the mind active in its own pursuit without taking in external impressions or thinking of other matters. — Ramana Maharshi

Because truth is exceedingly subtle and serene, the bliss of the Self can manifest only in a mind rendered subtle and steady by assiduous meditation. — Ramana Maharshi

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

Turn your vision inward and then the whole world will be full of the Supreme Spirit. — Ramana Maharshi

The life of action need not be renounced. If you meditate for an hour or two every day you can then carry on with your duties. If you meditate in the right manner then the current of mind induced will continue to flow even in the midst of your work. — Ramana Maharshi

Meditation helps concentration of the mind. Then the mind is free from thoughts and is in the meditated form. — Ramana Maharshi

Ramana Maharshi Quotes About Thoughts

All that is required to realise the Self is to “Be Still. — Ramana Maharshi

The fact is that the mind is only a bundle of thoughts. The mind is fattened by new thoughts rising up. Therefore it is foolish to attempt to kill the mind by means of the mind. The only way of doing it is to find its source and hold on to it. The mind will then fade away of its own accord. — Ramana Maharshi

If you go the way of your thoughts you will be carried away by them and you will find yourself in an endless maze. — Ramana Maharshi

Good thoughts keep off bad thoughts. They must themselves disappear before the state of realization. — Ramana Maharshi

If one wants to abide in the thought-free state, a struggle is inevitable. One must fight one's way through before regaining one's original primal state. If one succeeds in the fight and reaches the goal, the enemy, namely the thoughts, will all subside in the Self and disappear entirely. — Ramana Maharshi

Even in intake, the one steadfast thought is said to be the natural state. Nirvikalpa Samadhi will result when the sensory objects are not present. — Ramana Maharshi

The mind is only a bundle of thoughts. The thoughts have their root in the I-thought. Whoever investigates the True "I" enjoys the stillness of bliss. — Ramana Maharshi

See what helps you to keep away all other thoughts and adopt that method for your meditation. — Ramana Maharshi

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

The "I" thought is said to be the sum total of all thoughts. The source of the "I" thought has to be inquired into. — Ramana Maharshi

Ramana Maharshi Quotes About Spiritual

You impose limits on your true nature of infinite being. Then you get displeased to be only a limited creature. Then you begin spiritual practices to transcend these non-existing limits. But if your practice itself implies the existence of these limits, how could they allow you to transcend them. — Ramana Maharshi

Wanting to reform the world without discovering one's true self is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes. — Ramana Maharshi

Calmness is the criterion of spiritual progress. Plunge the purified mind into the Heart. Then the work is over. — Ramana Maharshi

The Self is the one Reality that always exists, and it is by the light of the Self that all other things are seen. — Ramana Maharshi

We are always peace. To get rid of the idea that we are not peace is all that is required. — Ramana Maharshi

How to get rid of the mind? Is it the mind that wants to kill itself? The mind cannot kill itself. So your business is to find the real nature of the mind. Then you will know that there is no mind. When the Self is sought, the mind is nowhere. Abiding in the Self, one need not worry about the mind. — Ramana Maharshi

The Self itself is the world; the Self itself is 'I'; the Self itself is God; all is Siva, the Self. — Ramana Maharshi

Ramana Maharshi Quotes About Original

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

Surrender is to give oneself up to the original cause of one's being. — Ramana Maharshi

Without seeing the origin of light, the true form of one's Self, the ordinary man sees by the mind different things and is deluded. — Ramana Maharshi

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

Ramana Maharshi Quotes About State

The State of liberated Being can be reached only by "dying"; but (this) dying does not consist in destruction of the body; one should understand that true death is the extinction of the ideas "I" and "mine." — Ramana Maharshi

Turn the mind inward and cease thinking of yourself as the body; thereby you will come to know that the self is ever happy. Neither grief nor misery is experienced in this state. — Ramana Maharshi

Till you reach the state of jnana and thus wake out of maya you must do social service by relieving suffering whenever you see it. But even then you must do it without ahankara, i.e., without the sense of 'I am the doer', but with the feeling 'I am the Lord's tool'. — Ramana Maharshi

Peace is your natural state. It is the mind that obstructs the natural state. — Ramana Maharshi

There is nothing so simple as being the Self. It requires no effort, no aid. One has to leave off the wrong identity and be in his (her) eternal, natural, inherent state. — Ramana Maharshi

If the mind falls asleep, awaken it. Then if it starts wandering, make it quiet. If you reach the state where there is neither sleep nor movement of mind, stay still in that, the natural (real) state. — Ramana Maharshi

You need not aspire for or get any new state. Get rid of your present thoughts, that is all. — Ramana Maharshi

Ramana Maharshi Famous Quotes And Sayings

One should remain as a witness to whatever happens, adopting the attitude, 'Let whatever strange things that happens happen, let us see!' This should be one's practice. Nothing happens by accident in the divine scheme of things. — Ramana Maharshi

Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen, try as you may. Whatever is destined to happen will happen, do what you may to prevent it. This is certain. The best course, therefore, is to remain silent. — Ramana Maharshi

Correcting oneself is correcting the whole world. The Sun is simply bright. It does not correct anyone. Because it shines, the whole world is full of light. Transforming yourself is a means of giving light to the whole world. — Ramana Maharshi

The world is so unhappy because it is ignorant of the true Self. Man’s real nature is happiness. Happiness is inborn in the true Self. Man’s search for happiness is an unconscious search for his true Self. The true Self is imperishable; therefore, when a man finds it, he finds a happiness which does not come to an end. — Ramana Maharshi

Eating, bathing, going to the toilet, talking, thinking, and many other activities related to the body are all work. How is it that the performance of one particular act is alone (considered) work? To be still is to be always engaged in work. To be silent is to be always talking. — Ramana Maharshi

By whatever path you go, you will have to lose yourself in the one. Surrender is complete only when you reach the stage `Thou art all' and `Thy will be done'. — Ramana Maharshi

When you truly feel this equal love for all, when your heart has expanded so much that it embraces the whole of creation, you will certainly not feel like giving up this or that. You will simply drop off from secular life as a ripe fruit drops from the branch of a tree. You will feel that the whole world is your home. — Ramana Maharshi

Realisation is not acquisition of anything new nor is it a new faculty. It is only removal of all camouflage — Ramana Maharshi

Why should we... constantly worry ourselves... as to what should be done and how, and what should not be done and how not? We know that the train carries all loads, so after getting on it why should we carry our small luggage on our head to our discomfort, instead of putting it down in the train and feeling at ease? — Ramana Maharshi

You are awareness. Awareness is another name for you. Since you are awareness there is no need to attain or cultivate it. All that you have to do is to give up being aware of other things, that is of the not-Self. If one gives up being aware of them then pure awareness alone remains, and that is the Self. — Ramana Maharshi

That alone is Real which exists by itself, which reveals itself by itself and which is eternal and unchanging. — Ramana Maharshi

Grace is always present. You imagine it as something high in the sky, far away, something that has to descend. It is really inside you, in your heart. When the mind rests in its source, grace rushes forth, sprouting as from a spring within you. — Ramana Maharshi

We loosely talk of Self-realization, for lack of a better term. But how can one realize that which alone is real? All we need to do is to give up our habit of regarding as real that which is unreal. All religious practices are meant solely to help us do this. — Ramana Maharshi

This perception of division between the seer and the object that is seen, is situated in the mind. For those remaining in the heart, the seer becomes one with the sight. — Ramana Maharshi

If you observe awareness steadily, this awareness itself becomes the Guru that will reveal the Truth. — Ramana Maharshi

Aim high, aim at the highest, and all lower aims are thereby achieved. It is looking below on the stormy sea of differences that makes you sink. Look up, beyond these and see the One Glorious Real, and you are saved. — Ramana Maharshi

Reality is simply the loss of ego. Destroy the ego by seeking its identity. Because the ego is no entity it will automatically vanish and reality will shine forth by itself. — Ramana Maharshi

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 Maharshi

Sense-perceptions can only be indirect knowledge, and not direct knowledge. Only one's own awareness is direct knowledge. — Ramana Maharshi

There is no reaching the Self. If Self were to be reached, it would mean that the Self is not here and now but that it is yet to be obtained. What is got afresh will also be lost. So it will be impermanent. What is not permanent is not worth striving for. So I say the Self is not reached. You are the Self; you are already That. — Ramana Maharshi

Liberation exists- and you will never be liberated. — Ramana Maharshi

We dig a well and create a huge pit. The space in the pit or well has not been created by us. We have just removed the earth which was filling the space there. The space was there then and is also there now. — Ramana Maharshi

It will come all right in the end. There is the steady impulse of your determination that sets you on your feet again after every downfall and breakdown. Gradually the obstacles are all overcome and your current becomes stronger. Everything comes right in the end. Steady determination is what is required. — Ramana Maharshi

The macrocosm is in its entirety in the body. The body is in its entirety in the heart. Therefore heart is the summarised form of all the macrocosm. — Ramana Maharshi

Dive deep into the chambers of your heart. Find out the real, infinite 'I'. Rest there peacefully for ever and become identical with the Supreme Self. — Ramana Maharshi

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. — Ramana Maharshi

Remove the Ego and Avidya (Ignorance) is gone. Look for it, the ego vanishes and the real Self alone remains. — Ramana Maharshi

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

The search "Who am I"...ends in the annihilation of the illusory "I" and the Self which remains over will be as clear as a gooseberry in the palm of one's hand. — Ramana Maharshi

Know that the eradication of the identification with the body is charity, spiritual austerity and ritual sacrifice; it is virtue, divine union and devotion; it is heaven, wealth, peace and truth; it is grace; it is the state of divine silence; it is the deathless death; it is jnana, renunciation, final liberation and bliss. — Ramana Maharshi

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

The Self alone exists. When you try to trace the ego, which is the basis of the perception of the world and everything else, you find the ego does not exist at all and neither does all this creation that you see. — Ramana Maharshi

If you make the thief the policeman there will be lots of investigation but no arrests will ever be made. — Ramana Maharshi

If you approach the ocean with a cup, you can only take away a cupful; if you approach it with a bucket you can take away a bucketful. — Ramana Maharshi

Mind is but a poor reflection of the radiant Heart. — Ramana Maharshi

It is said that the heart is in the microcosm just as the orb of the sun in the macrocosm. The mind in Sahasrara is like the disc of the moon. — Ramana Maharshi

Self-reform automatically brings about social reform. — Ramana Maharshi

Pure Consciousness, which is the Heart, includes all, and nothing is outside or apart from it. That is the ultimate Truth. — Ramana Maharshi

Peace is for the purification of one's mind. Power is for the growth of the community. Having established the community with power, one should then establish supreme peace. — Ramana Maharshi

In the Heart's cavity, the sole Brahman as an ever-persisting 'I' shines direct in the form of the Self. Into the Heart enter thyself, with mind in search or in deeper plunge. Or by restraint of life-movement be firmly poised in the Self. — Ramana Maharshi

Realisation is our nature. It is nothing new to be gained. What is new cannot be eternal. Therefore there is no need for doubting if one would lose or gain the Self. — Ramana Maharshi

Such happiness is relative and is better called pleasure or satisfaction. — Ramana Maharshi

If a person realises his position and stays in his own self, things that are to happen will happen. Things that are not to happen will not happen. The shakti that is in the world, is only one. All these troubles arise if we think that we are separate from that shakti. — Ramana Maharshi

Life Lessons by Ramana Maharshi

1. Ramana Maharshi taught that the path to true happiness lies in self-inquiry, or the practice of looking inward to discover the source of one's being.
2. He believed that all suffering is caused by the false identification with the body and mind, and that true liberation can be found by realizing the true Self.
3. He also taught that the highest truth is beyond words and concepts, and can only be realized through direct experience.