Swami Satchidananda Quotes & Sayings

One truth, many paths. — Swami Satchidananda

The moment you understand yourself as the true Self, you find such peace and bliss that the impressions of the petty enjoyments you experienced before become as ordinary specks of light in front of the brilliant sun. — Swami Satchidananda

When even one virtue becomes our nature, the mind becomes clean and tranquil. Then there is no need to practice meditation; we will automatically be meditating always. (151) — Swami Satchidananda

Our own true nature is Infinite Joy!
Always happy, Always peaceful, Always free. — Swami Satchidananda

Peace comes not from doing, but from undoing; not from getting, but from letting go. — Swami Satchidananda

As the mind, so the person; bondage or liberation are in your own mind." If you feel bound, you are bound. If you feel liberated, you are liberated. Things outside neither bind nor liberate you; only your attitude toward them does that. — Swami Satchidananda

These Sutras are reminiscent of the Four Noble Truths of Lord Buddha: the misery of the world, the cause of misery, the removal of that misery, and the method used to remove it. Patanjali tells us that pain can be avoided. He further tells us that its cause is ignorance. (115) — Swami Satchidananda

We can see the same spirit in everybody only when we know we are that spirit, Atman or Self. Only a person who has understood his own Self can see that Self in everybody. — Swami Satchidananda

Devotion gradually progresses to higher levels ... One type goes to God and asks Him to remove his suffering. Another one will ask for money or material things. A third will request liberation or release from his bondage. And the fourth will not ask for anything. He will just enjoy praying and praising his Lord. That is the highest form of prayer. (Beyond Word, 119) — Swami Satchidananda

We can be serene even in the midst of calamities and, by our serenity, make others more tranquil. — Swami Satchidananda

Give up the drop and gain the whole ocean. — Swami Satchidananda

Begin with little things daily and one day you will be doing things that months back you would have thought impossible. — Swami Satchidananda

We are not going to change the whole world, but we can change ourselves and feel free as birds. We can be serene even in the midst of calamities and, by our serenity, make others more tranquil. Serenity is contagious. If we smile at someone, he or she will smile back. And a smile costs nothing. We should plague everyone with joy. If we are to die in a minute, why not die happily, laughing? (136-137) — Swami Satchidananda

There is one Cosmic Essence, all-pervading, all-knowing, all-powerful. This nameless formless essence can be approached by any name, any form, any symbol that suites the taste of the individual. Follow your religion, but try to understand the real purpose behind all of the rituals and traditions, and experience that Oneness. — Swami Satchidananda

The dedicated ever enjoy Supreme Peace. Therefore, live only to serve. — Swami Satchidananda

Music is the celestial sound, and it is sound that controls the whole universe, not atomic vibrations. Sound energy, sound power, is much, much greater than any other power in the world. — Swami Satchidananda

Don't depend on something that comes from outside. Outside things are never going to make you happy. — Swami Satchidananda

The stones of a river start out rough, but with the current continually bumping and polishing them, they end up being beautiful. — Swami Satchidananda

We don't exhaust the Bible even after reading it hundreds of times. Each time we read it we see it in a new light. That is the greatness of the holy scriptures. They are that way because they were created by holy prophets who experienced the truth. Each time we read these works we elevate ourselves to see a little more. (81) — Swami Satchidananda

If you are becoming more easeful, peaceful & useful then you know you are growing. — Swami Satchidananda

[T]he period between four and six in the morning is called the Brahmamuhurta, the Brahmic time, or divine period, and is a very sacred time to meditate. (140) — Swami Satchidananda

Yoga says instinct is a trace of an old experience that has been repeated many times and the impressions have sunk down to the bottom of the mental lake. Although they go down, they aren't completely erased. Don't think you ever forget anything. All experiences are stored in the chittam; and, when the proper atmosphere is created, they come to the surface again. When we do something several times it forms a habit. Continue with that habit for a long time, and it becomes your character. Continue with that character and eventually, perhaps in another life, it comes up as instinct. (92) — Swami Satchidananda

Don't give up your power to change things. Negativity and unhappiness are caused by you. You can change your attitude. — Swami Satchidananda

If you are that patient, your mind is more settled, and what you do will be more perfect. If you are unsettled and anxious to get the result, you are already disturbed; nothing done with that disturbed mind will have quality. So, it is not only how long you practice, but with what patience, what earnestness and what quality also. — Swami Satchidananda

Just as a little bird cracks open the shell and flies out, we fly out of this shell, the shell of the body. We call that death, but strictly speaking, death is nothing but a change of form. — Swami Satchidananda

You are the cause of your own joy or your own misery. You hold that power. You are your own friend and your own enemy. — Swami Satchidananda

Anything that you throw comes back. All your actions are echoes. — Swami Satchidananda

[O]ur own bodies are changing every second. Yet we take the body to be our Self; and, speaking in terms of it, we say, "I am hungry" or "I am lame"; "I am black" or "I am white." These are all just the conditions of the body. We touch the truth when we say, "My body aches," implying the body belongs to us and that therefore we are not that. (87) — Swami Satchidananda

The light is within. It is already there. Take your time to see it. — Swami Satchidananda

The five points of yama, together with the five points of niyama, remind us of the Ten Commandments of the Christtian and Jewish faiths, as well as of the ten virtues of Buddhism. In fact, there is no religion without these moral or ethical codes. All spiritual life should be based on these things. They are the foundation stones without which we can never build anything lasting. (127) — Swami Satchidananda

The cause of bandha and moksha (bondage and liberation) is our own minds. If we think we are bound, we are bound. If we think we are liberated, we are liberated ... It is only when we transcend the mind that we are free from all these troubles. (117) — Swami Satchidananda

The purification of the mind is very necessary. (72) — Swami Satchidananda

The same thing can be both good and bad. Whenever you speak of good, bad is also present. The world is a mixture of both. There is not good without bad. They are both sides of the same coin. Both are necessary. We have been given free will and discriminating capacity to select what is beneficial to us and to avoid what is detrimental to us. Even Cobra poison can be used as medicine. — Swami Satchidananda

Calming the mind is yoga, not just standing on the head — Swami Satchidananda

Losses are always great eye openers. Pleasures never open our eyes. It's only through pain that we learn our weaknesses. — Swami Satchidananda

[C]ontinence is a very important part of yoga. If a handful of people come forward with strong wills, nothing is impossible. One Buddha changed half the globe; one Jesus, three quarters of the world. We all have that capacity. (140) — Swami Satchidananda

At various points in our lives, or on a quest, and for reasons that often remain obscure, we are driven to make decisions which prove with hindsight to be loaded with meaning. (225) — Swami Satchidananda

If your heart is beautiful, your face will be beautiful, your life will be beautiful, everything will be beautiful. — Swami Satchidananda

Yoga began with the first person wanting to be healthy and happy all the time. — Swami Satchidananda

Happiness is not be sought outside. It can never come from outside or from inside
because it simply is. It is always. Where? Everywhere. — Swami Satchidananda

Equality comes in realizing that we are all doing different jobs for a common purpose. That is the aim behind any community. The very name community means let's come together to recognize the unity. Come ... unity. — Swami Satchidananda

In not only the physical science, but in the real mental silence, the wisdom dawns. (75) — Swami Satchidananda

There's no value in digging shallow wells in a hundred places. Decide on one place and dig deep. Even if you encounter a rock, use dynamite and keep going down. If you leave that to dig another well, all the first effort is wasted and there is no proof you won't hit rock again. (52) — Swami Satchidananda

You are not given the light by anyone - not even by a spiritual teacher. You are that light. — Swami Satchidananda

Any kind of expectation creates a problem. We should accept, but not expect. Whatever comes, accept it. Whatever goes, accept it. The immediate benefit is that your mind is always peaceful. — Swami Satchidananda

Doesn't the bible say "blessed are the pure in the heart, so they shall see God?" when?
Only when there is purity in the heart; a heart peaceful and free from egoism
the "I" and the "mine." Purity of heart and equanimity of mind are the very essence of Yoga. — Swami Satchidananda

Temples and churches have become social centers. They have lost their original purpose because the minds of the people are more attracted to worldly things than to prayer. The lips repeat the prayer mechanically like a phonograph record, but the mind wanders to other places. (23-24) — Swami Satchidananda

Death can come at any minute, in any way. We do not know what is in store tomorrow, or, whether there is a tomorrow, or even a tonight! But still, we have the golden present. Now we are alive and kicking. What should we do now? Love all, serve all. — Swami Satchidananda

Not only does charity begin at home. Everything begins at home, including spirituality. — Swami Satchidananda

Never give up; nothing is done overnight. Anyone who achieved anything in life always did it after many failures. Don't give up hope. — Swami Satchidananda

It's very simple. Keep your body as clean as possible, your mind as clear as possible. That's all you need. And do it in anyway you can, in your own way. It doesn't matter. That's why I say 'peaceful body, peaceful mind'. And then you'll be useful. You don't have to become a useful person. You will be useful. — Swami Satchidananda

If you do not pour water on your plant, what will happen? It will slowly wither and die. Our habits will also slowly wither and die away if we do not give them an opportunity to manifest. You need not fight to stop a habit. Just don't give it an opportunity to repeat itself. (67) — Swami Satchidananda

God knows your breaking point. You simply don't know your own strength. — Swami Satchidananda

The greatest victory you can win is over your own mind. — Swami Satchidananda

Mere philosophy will not satisfy us. We cannot reach the goal by mere words alone. Without practice, nothing can be achieved. (3) — Swami Satchidananda

When your intelligence is shaken by the conflicting opinions of others don't get upset over it, because you know the truth. Just accept their opinions as mere words. You simply feel, "Yes, that's what they feel. Let them feel that way." It may appear to be conflicting, but you give the freedom to others to think the way they want and say what they want. The enlightened person is not affected by that. — Swami Satchidananda

Everything begins in the mind. If you want to see clearly, you need clear vision. — Swami Satchidananda

Truth is the same always. Whoever ponders it will get the same answer. Buddha got it. Patanjali got it. Jesus got it. Mohammed got it. The answer is the same, but the method of working it out may vary this way or that. (115) — Swami Satchidananda

What is it that dies? A log of wood dies to become a few planks. The planks die to become a chair. The chair dies to become a piece of firewood, and the firewood dies to become ash. You give different names to the different shapes the wood takes, but the basic substance is there always. If we could always remember this, we would never worry about the loss of anything. We never lose anything; we never gain anything. By such discrimination we put an end to unhappiness. (118-119) — Swami Satchidananda

Food should be a love offering. — Swami Satchidananda

Let us accept all the different paths as different rivers running toward the same ocean. — Swami Satchidananda

I feel we don't really need scriptures. The entire life is an open book, a scripture. Read it. Learn while digging a pit or chopping some wood or cooking some food. If you can't learn from your daily activities, how are you going to understand the scriptures? (233) — Swami Satchidananda

It's a fact. Fear of the disease kills more people than the disease itself. So make the mind strong. After all, what is it that we are afraid of? One day we are going to die. If death comes, say, "Oh, you have come. You are going to take away this garb and get me a new one? Okay, take this and get me a new model." If you only have right understanding, there's no room for fear. — Swami Satchidananda

Every pain has a gain behind it — Swami Satchidananda

True love knows no bargains. It is one-way traffic: giving, giving, giving. — Swami Satchidananda

Ust do, leave it there, if it comes let it come, but don't look for it. — Swami Satchidananda

As you are, you see everything else. — Swami Satchidananda

When you win and the other fellow loses, what do you see? A losing face. There is great joy in losing and making the other person win and have a happy face. Who will be the happiest person? The one who brings happiness to others. — Swami Satchidananda

Though we can't always see it at the time, if we look upon events with some perspective, we see things always happen for our best interests. We are always being guided in a way better than we know ourselves. — Swami Satchidananda

If we only look within, we will see he Light as if we were seeing our own image in a mirror. (122) — Swami Satchidananda

Now will never leave. It is always here. Like a clear canvas, it awaits our painting. — Swami Satchidananda

So build up the body, build up the nerves, and build up the mind until your faith is so strong there is no fear at all and you are the master. — Swami Satchidananda

Do you want to know the secret of life? If you want to have everything, don't want anything. Everything will run after you. — Swami Satchidananda

If you have done something meritorious, you experience pleasure and happiness; if wrong things, suffering. A happy or unhappy life is your own creation. Nobody else is responsible. If you remember this, you won't find fault with anybody. You are your own best friend as well as your worst enemy. (99) — Swami Satchidananda

Yoga believes in transforming the individual before transforming the world. Whatever change we want to happen outside should happen within. If you walk in peace and express that peace in your very life, others will see you and learn something. — Swami Satchidananda

Yoga is not only learning to stand on your head but also learning to stand on your feet. — Swami Satchidananda

Sometimes if you state the plain truth in plain language, you hurt the other person, and you get hurt as well. We have to learn how to communicate. — Swami Satchidananda