Ravi Ravindra Quotes & Sayings

Each place is the right place
the place where I now am can be a sacred space. (3) — Ravi Ravindra

A need for approval lies behind all efforts of evangelism. If someone else can be convinced, that will show us that we are on the right path. The attempt to convince someone of anything is a mark of insecurity. (173) — Ravi Ravindra

What we most love is not what we know, but what knows us and draws us ... (78) — Ravi Ravindra

Active receptivity is needed, not a passive agitation. — Ravi Ravindra

[I]t is important not to abandon the practice [of yoga] because we believe it is driven by the wrong motivation. The practice of yoga itself transforms. Yoga has a magical quality ... (20) — Ravi Ravindra

Patanjali says that we can meditate on anything that our heart desires. The important thing is not what we meditate on, but more that we meditate. And then gradually to meditate more and more on what corresponds to the innermost longing of our heart. The practice of meditation ... gradually works its magic in stilling the mind. (42) — Ravi Ravindra

Each one of us needs to discover the proper balance between the masculine and feminine energies, between the active and the receptive. (104) — Ravi Ravindra

Yoga practice can make us more and more sensitive to subtler and subtler sensations in the body. Paying attention to and staying with finer and finer sensations within the body is one of the surest ways to steady the wandering mind. (39) — Ravi Ravindra

Spiritual progress is when on becomes free not only of the knowledge which is inevitably from the past, but also from the need to know ... and a desire to predict and control. — Ravi Ravindra

As spiritual searchers we need to become freer and freer of the attachment to our own smallness in which we get occupied with me-me-me. Pondering on large ideas or standing in front of things which remind us of a vast scale can free us from acquisitiveness and competitiveness and from our likes and dislikes. If we sit with an increasing stillness of the body, and attune our mind to the sky or to the ocean or to the myriad stars at night, or any other indicators of vastness, the mind gradually stills and the heart is filled with quiet joy. Also recalling our own experiences in which we acted generously or with compassion for the simple delight of it without expectation of any gain can give us more confidence in the existence of a deeper goodness from which we may deviate. (39) — Ravi Ravindra

If We Sit With An Increasing Stillness Of The BodyThe Mind Gradually Stills And The Heart Is Filled With Quiet Joy — Ravi Ravindra

Whoever is full of wisdom is naturally compassionate; in fact we recognize that someone has gained spiritual wisdom by seeing their compassionate behavior ... Individuals and countries with power need to develop wisdom and compassion, for without these attributes, there is a danger that the power will be used to oppress and exploit others. (31) — Ravi Ravindra

Most of us assume that human beings have free will. However, ... [we] are very much conditioned by our species, culture, family, and by the past in general ... It is rare for a human being to have free will ... (140) — Ravi Ravindra

If you look at a person's checkbook and datebook, you know what their religion really is. — Ravi Ravindra

It is useful to study different traditions in order to be free of attachment to any one way of expressing what is beyond expression. (x) — Ravi Ravindra