When an unbaked pot is broken, the potter can use the mud to make a new pot; but when a baked pot is broken, he cannot do the same any longer. So, when a person dies in a state of ignorance, he is born again; but when he becomes well baked in the fire of true knowledge and dies a perfect man, he is not born again.

Any name will do – Durga, Krishna, Jesus or Siva. Then if through chanting of the name one’s attachment to God grows day by day and joy fills the soul, one has nothing to fear. The delirium will certainly disappear; the grace of God will descend.

I practiced each religion for a time – Hinduism, Islam, Christianity. Furthermore, I followed paths of the Saktas, Vaishnavas, and Vedantists. I realized that there is only one God toward whom all are travelling; but the paths are different.

A boat may stay in water, but water should not stay in the boat. A spiritual aspirant may live in the world, but the world should not live within him.

When the flower blooms, the bees come uninvited.

The ego is like the root of a banyan tree; you think you have removed it all then one fine morning you see a sprout flourishing again.

Spirituality automatically leads to humility. When a flower develops into a fruit, the petals drop off on their own. When one becomes spiritual, the ego gradually vanishes on its own. A tree laden with fruits always bends low. Humility is a sign of greatness.

It is as if the Divine Mother said to the human mind, in confidence with a sign from her eye, ‘Go and enjoy the world’. How can one blame the mind? The mind can disentangle itself from worldliness if, through her grace, she makes it turn towards herself. Only then does it become devoted to the Lotus feet of the Divine Mother.

These saying are made by Sri Ramakrishna Parmahamsa in the years 1836–1886.

Aim Hrim Klim

Photo by İbrahim Özdemir on Unsplash