25 Inspirational Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Quotes

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was an Indian mystic, reformer, and saint who, in his own lifetime, came to be hailed by people of all classes as a spiritual embodiment of God. He believed that every individual must have only one aim in life i.e., the realization of the Ultimate Reality. To achieve this aim, one of the preconditions is the purity of the mind. He also played a significant role in the Bengal Renaissance of the 19th century. His disciple, Swami Vivekananda, founded the Rama Krishna Mission after his demise, to propagate his teachings throughout the world.

Best Quotes by Shri Ramakrishna Paramhansa

As a lamp, does not burn without oil, so a man cannot live without God.
When the flower blooms, the bees come uninvited.
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As the water of the ocean is now calm and next agitated into waves, so are Brahman and Maya. The ocean in the tranquil state is Brahman, and in the turbulent state, Maya.
The Man who works for others, without any selfish motive, really does good to himself.
Women and gold keep men immersed in worldliness. The woman is disarmed when you view her as the manifestation of the Divine Mother.
Never get into your head that your faith alone is true and every other is false. Know for certain that God without form is real and that God with form is also real. Then hold fast to whichever faith appeals to you.
The snake itself is not affected by the poison in its fangs; but when it bites, the poison kills the creature bitten. Likewise, Maya is in the Lord but does not affect Him, while the same Maya deludes the whole world.
Knowingly or unknowingly, consciously or unconsciously, in whatever state we utter His name, we acquire the merit of such utterance. A man who voluntarily goes into a river and bathes therein gets the benefit of the bath; so does likewise he who has been pushed into the river by another, or who while sleeping soundly has water thrown upon him by another.
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Snakes are venomous reptiles. But the man who has learned the art of snake charming can play even with seven snakes coiled around his snake. Similarly, a man of realization is immune to the dangers of worldly life.
All religions are true and God can be reached by different religions. Many rivers flow in many ways, but they fall into the sea. They all are one.
Hanuman was blessed with the vision of God both with form and without it. But he retained the ego of the servant of a God. Such was also the case of Narada, Sanaka, Sanandana, and Sanatkumara.

One must be very particular about telling the truth. Through truth one can realize God.
The supreme purpose and goal for human life… is to cultivate love.
To explain God merely after reading the scriptures is explaining to a person the city of Banaras after seeing it only on a map.
Sugar and sand may be mixed together, but the ant rejects the sand and goes off with the sugar grain; so pious men lift the good from the bad.
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As a toy fruit or a toy elephant reminds one of the real fruit and the living animal, so do the images that are worshipped remind one of the God who is formless and eternal.
Iron appears as red hot in the furnace but becomes black soon after it is taken out. In the same way, worldly men are full of religious emotion if they are in a temple or in the society of the pious; but no sooner do they leave these associations the flood of devotion in them subsides.
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When a certain quantity of milk is mixed with double the quantity of water, it requires a good deal of time and labor to condense it. The mind of a worldly man is diluted with the filthy water of impure thoughts, and he has to work long and hard to purify it.
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? O man, because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God.

Lovers of God do not belong to any caste.
Butter churned early in the morning is the best; that churned after sunrise is not so good. Addressing his young disciples, Master used to say, “You are like butter churned in the early morning; my householder disciples are like butter churned late in the day.
Sunlight is one and the same wherever it falls, but only a bright surface like that of water, or of a mirror reflects it fully. So is the light Divine. It falls equally and impartially on all hearts, but the pure and pious hearts of holy men receive and reflect that light well.
The man whose hair stands on end at the mere mention of the name of God, and from whose eyes flow tears of love – he has indeed reached his last birth.
Common men talk bagfuls of religion but do not practice even a grain of it. The wise man speaks a little, even though his whole life is religion expressed in action.
When you are engaged in devotional practices, keep aloof from those who scoff at them, and from those who ridicule the piety and the pious.