Swami Prabhavananda Quotes & Sayings

Thou art imperishable. Thou art changeless reality. Thou art the source of life. — Swami Prabhavananda

The little space within the heart is as great as the vast universe.
The heavens and the earth are there, and the sun and the moon and the stars. Fire and lightening and winds are there, and all that now is and all that is not. — Swami Prabhavananda

I cannot say that I know Brahman fully.
Nor can I say that I know him not ...
Nor do I know that I know him not. — Swami Prabhavananda

Give your body and mind to worldly enjoyments, and the world will destroy them both. Devote them to God and his service, and you will enjoy bodily health, peace of mind, and spiritual joy. — Swami Prabhavananda

He is within and without: He lives in the live and the lifeless: Subtle beyond mind's grasp; so near to us, so utterly distant: Undivided, He seems to divide into objects and creatures; Send creation forth from Himself, He upholds and withdraws it; Light of all lights, He abides beyond our ignorant darkness; Knowledge, the one thing real we may study or know, the heart's dweller. — Swami Prabhavananda

A sutra is, so to speak, the bare thread of an exposition, the absolute minimum that is necessary to hold it together, unadorned by a single "bead" of elaboration. Only essential words are used. Often, there is no complete sentence-structure. There was a good reason for this method. Sutras were composed at a period when there were no books. The entire work had to be memorized, and so it had to be expressed as tersely as possible. Patanjali's Sutras, like all others, were intended to be expanded and explained. The ancient teachers would repeat an aphorism by heart and then proceed to amplify it with their own comments, for the benefit of their pupils. In some instances these comments, also, were memorized, transcribed at a later date, and thus preserved for us. — Swami Prabhavananda

That which is not comprehended by the mind but by which the mind comprehends - know that ... — Swami Prabhavananda

If we attempt nothing more than a rigid negative control of the waves of desire, without raising waves of love, compassion and devotion to oppose them, then the result may be even more tragic. — Swami Prabhavananda

As the sun, revealer of all objects to the seer, is not harmed by the sinful eye, nor by the impurities of the objects it gazes on, so the one Self, dwelling in all, is not touched by the evils of the world. (The Upanishads: Breath of the Eternal, pg. 35) — Swami Prabhavananda

The way upward from inertia to illumination passes through the sphere of action. — Swami Prabhavananda

The fulfillment of every desire only reveals its inadequacy. — Swami Prabhavananda

The mind is like a lake lashed into waves. Make the water of the lake clear and calm. — Swami Prabhavananda

The breeze of God's grace is blowing continually. You have to set your sail to catch that breeze. — Swami Prabhavananda

There is no failure in the spiritual life, as long as we do not give up the fight. — Swami Prabhavananda

The right relation between prayer and conduct," wrote Archbishop Temple, "is not that conduct is supremely important and prayer may help it, but that prayer is supremely important and conduct tests it. — Swami Prabhavananda

To darkness are they doomed who worship only the body, and to greater darkness they who worship only the spirit. — Swami Prabhavananda