Shankar Quotes & Sayings

Beauty is an inner phenomenon. Beauty is not in objects, not in people, not even in the eyes of the beholder. It lies in the heart of every person — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Keeping the mind happy makes work effortless. This is the skill for productivity! — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Your desire for perfection is the cause of anger. Leave room for imperfection. Perfection in action is almost impossible. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Have "eternal wait," infinite patience. When you have infinite patience, you will realize God belongs to you. Either through awareness or through practice you reach the same spot. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Healthy is being physically strong, mentally calm and steady and emotionally soft — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The source of your mind is love and whatever you do to go to that source, is spiritual practice. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

When every action of yours is preceded by witnessing, then every move you make in this world becomes perfect and significant. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Some students look at the problems that they're facing and they draw global conclusions from them. They say this is not just a professor giving me a bad grade or someone not sitting next to me in the cafeteria. This reflects that fact that I am not ready for college, or I shouldn't be in this college at all. — Shankar Vedantam

Contentment and happiness! Do everything happily. Walk,
talk, sit happily; even if you complain against somebody,
do it happily. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

I don't subscribe to the school of thought that as a feature film producer I shouldn't dabble in television, web content, or even comic books ... — Adi Shankar

The entire universe is just an expression, projection, of the Being, of the Self. Within this small body, you are able to experience the infinite space. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The criteria for success: you are free, you live in the present moment, you are useful to the people around you, and you feel love for all humanity. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Everybody has a right to like or dislike anything or anyone. From a flower to a flavor to a book or a composition but it is very sad that in our country we actually fight over such things in an unseemly manner. — Ravi Shankar

There is only two types of women in the world:
1. beautiful
2. very beautiful — Gauri Shankar Gupta

Whatever you put attention on will start manifesting in your life. Intention, attention, manifestation; that is how the universe works. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Talk less, but with more awareness. Every word you use, use purposefully. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The very purpose for being in this body, for every one of us, is to live and rejoice in that virgin area, that untouched, pure and ever green,blissful area of our Self — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Drop all your botheration to me and be free of worry — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

If you are bombarded by so many thoughts in solitude, you are in ignorance. If you are calm even amidst a crowd then you are in knowledge. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Worldly love can be like an ocean, yet an ocean has a bottom. Divine love is like the sky - limitless, infinite. From the bottom of the ocean soar into the vast sky — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Be ready to face the worst. This will leave you with stability in your mind. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Material wealth does not equate to success. Equanimity and peace of mind does — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

My brother had a house in Paris. To it came many Western classical musicians. These musicians all made the same point: 'Indian music,' they said, 'is beautiful when we hear it with the dancers. On its own, it is repetitious and monotonous.' — Ravi Shankar

When your intentions are very pure and clear, nature brings support to you. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

One who can learn to flow with the current as well as manage the current is the successful one. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

In true love there is no heart break. A broken heat means broken demands, broken expectations and broken hopes. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Want, or desire, arises when you are not happy. Have you seen this? When you are very happy then there is contentment. Contentment means no want. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

A Guru is there to show you what you are. You are not different from Me. Whatever I am, that is what you are. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

That which you cannot express is Love.
That which you cannot reject/renounce is Beauty.
That which you cannot avoid is the Truth. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Author compares the impact of biases to his experience as an average swimmer who overcame a considerable fear of water. While the swimming was easy in one particular experience, he was internally congratulating himself on his acquired skill. But when he realized he was swimming with a current he would now have to fight against, he realized just how definite his limits were. — Shankar Vedantam

VIKRAM SHANKAR SQUINTED DOWN the long metal barrel. Framed squarely in the sight, not two hundred feet away, the white tiger sat on its haunches, its lower jaw drooping, ribs rippling under a mat of chocolate-striped fur. A sweet shot. Vikram's right finger closed over the trigger. He inhaled slowly, deliberately. Too seasoned a hunter to let the thrill overcome judgment, he took his time, savoring the anticipation. — Phoenix Sullivan

You sell your happiness for peanuts! You sell your smile for pennies! I tell you, it's not worth it. The entire world is not worth your smile. Even if you are made the king or the emperor of the world, it's not worth giving away your smile. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

There is a skill to learning. It is all about what is and what is not. While Science is knowing what is, Art is creating what is not. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

If you're not at peace, nothing else matters — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Life is nothing to be very serious about. Life is a ball in your hands to play with. Don't hold on to the ball.
— Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

A Presence is in control of the whole Universe. You just do your part and relax! — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

In science knowledge comes first and then faith follows. In spirituality faith comes first and then knowledge follows. The knowledge that pesticides and chemical fertilizers are good for plants came through science. Based on this knowledge, people had faith in pesticides and fertilizers and they were used all over the world. Then a different knowledge came and faith shifted to organic farming. Knowledge brought faith, the knowledge changed, and then faith changed. The knowledge and faith of science is of "happening." In spirituality, faith is first and knowledge comes later. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Walk lightly on this # planet and yet leave such a # footprint that cannot be erased for thousands of years! — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

There cannot possibly be a god in heaven watching all of this calmly. — Ravi Shankar

This deep sense of feeling that, 'I am' blessed can help you overcome any obstacle in life. It gives you courage and confidence and it will open you up for grace to pour in. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The path of love is not a tedious path. It's a path of joy. It's a path of singing and dancing. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

In always wanting to be comfortable, you become lazy.
In always wanting perfection, you become angry.
In always wanting to be rich, you become greedy. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Look at your life in contrast with the magnitude of creation, space and time. Your life becomes insignificant. Ego disappears. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The rush to enjoy robs the joy from life and only denies the happiness and freedom of here and now. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Faith is what? Faith is to love something you have no idea about. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The signs of good health are an intellect which is free from inhibition and arrogance, a heart which is full of compassion is healthy, a confusion-free mind, a trauma-free memory and a sorrow-free soul. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Your non attachment to the mundane is your charm. Your attachment to the divine is your beauty. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

If we sit deep in meditation, the glow within the body will brighten, and will expand and spread outside. That is Devi Puja — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Satguru knows that there is no death to the disciple. Atma never dies. Even after death he continues to get direction on the path — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The more you give, the more you will get. Then life will become a sheer dance of love. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Curiosity is the mother of science, wonder is the mother of spirituality. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

A disease-free body, quiver-free breath, stress-free mind, inhibition-free intellect, obsession-free memory, ego that includes all, and soul which is free from sorrow is the birthright of every human being. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Jyothishmati pragnya means to see your whole mind as light, as a flame. Your consciousness is a flame. Your mind is a flame. You forget this! Your entire body is functioning because of this presence of the mind as a flame in you. Otherwise, you'll be like an unlit candle. What is a flame? How does a flame work? A flame lives on oxygen, doesn't it? What does it do? A flame uses some matter from the substance earth, and it uses oxygen and lives. And what is life? Life is also the same! It uses oxygen and lives on some matter. Just like a flame lives from the wax and wick, and uses oxygen, so too, your life, the mind, uses the body and food in the body as wax, and the air as oxygen. And it exhibits activities in the body like the flame (consciousness) exhibits life. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

I don't appreciate avant-garde, electronic music. It makes me feel quite ill. — Ravi Shankar

Knowledge of life brings confidence. Knowledge of death makes you fearless and centered. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

I have a burning desire to entertain and different mediums allow me to do this in different ways. — Adi Shankar

Retain your shyness and drop your shame. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

You are always a winner. Sometimes you win, sometimes you make others win. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

In the olden days, I believe Mozart also improvised on piano, but somehow in the last 200 years, the whole training of Western classical music - they don't read between the lines, they just read the lines. — Ravi Shankar

When attention is given to the spiritual aspect of one's life, it brings a sense of belongingness, and responsibility, compassion and caring for the whole of humanity. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

A mind in the present moment is meditation. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

See the possibility that people and things can change at any time and don't hold on to judgements. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

A healthy mind always likes to adore others, elevate them. An unhealthy mind likes to pull everything down. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Life is more than matter. If it were just matter, there would be no need for comfort. Matter does not feel comfort or discomfort, beauty or ugliness, love or compassion, joy or sorrow. Will a chair ever feel sorry or happy? No, matter does not have these finer values. They belong to the realm of the spirit. But life is also more than spirit. If it were just spirit, there would be no need for water, food, or rest. Human life is a combination of both matter and spirit. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Suffering is a product of limited knowledge. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

For those who do not have faith in God, fear is a way to protect them. But if faith is strong, there is no anxiety about something in danger. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Your world is very small. Your world is bundle of your experiences. Have you observed this? — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

If you are passionate, be passionate about the highest, the most wonderful, and the most beautiful. Be passionate about this entire creation for everything is so beautiful. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

You are all that you are longing for. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

When people lose faith in the natural goodness of the human character, the lack of trust in spiritual goodness, that is one reason why corruption has become so widespread today. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

If you are a taker of happiness you get misery, if you are a giver of happiness you get joy and love. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

When you judge others, look at yourself - You too have flaws and the divine nature has accepted you with all your flaws. It doesn't judge you. Who are you to judge? — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

We communicate much more through our presence than the words. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Whatever is needed for you and your body will be taken care of, when you know this the lack will disappear from your life. When you realise ISHA permeates your everything you relax and are at ease - that is when things happen. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Keeping the mind open to new ideas, not being too anxious about success, putting 100% effort and meditation is the formula for entrepreneurs. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

I was invited for the first Woodstock. Actually, I started the programme. — Ravi Shankar

When people say that George Harrison made me famous, that is true in a way. — Ravi Shankar

Celebration happens when the mind unites with the spirit. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Your love is unique. Let love remain love, don't give it any name. The love that is defined by a relationship is limited. The love that is beyond relationships, that is true love — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

On Pt. K.L. Misra
To write about him is to write about Greatness. To discuss him is to discuss Intellectual Brilliance. To think of him is to think of Modesty, Simplicity and Lucidity. To remember him is to remember Nationalism at its finest hour. He was not one of those who merely achieved greatness nor certainly one of those upon whom greatness was thrust-he was in fact born great. - Siddharth Shankar Ray, Senior Advocate — Munindra Misra

Infinity means it is permeating all the finite things, — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

see it spick and span, as if nothing had happened there. She looked at Shweta, with a 'thank you' and 'what was the need' in her eyes. As she scanned the room, her eyes caught Shweta's suitcase, all packed, and kept on the floor. "Shwets, I had a very long and tiring day. I am in no mood for any more surprises. Please tell me that you are not planning to throw — Amit Shankar

We do yoga to make life more beautiful.. to stop misery from entering our world. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Why do you think you are weak? Wake up and see you have all the strength. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Nature will never confront you with a problem you can't solve. You already have the answer, that is why the question appears before you. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Spirituality is a harmonious blend of outer silence and inner celebration; and also inner silence and outer celebration! — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Know that humiliation does not weaken you, it strengthens you. The more egoistic you are, the more humiliation you feel. When you are childlike and have a greater sense of kinship, you do not feel humiliated. When you are steeped in love with the Existence, with the Divine, nothing whatsoever can humiliate you. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Your life is infinite. You are as old as these mountains and you will remain for ever. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Even stupid people have a role to play
in your life. They make you wiser and
more patient. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Do not make an effort to impress others. When you come from the self, your expression is perfect and your impression lasts for ages. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Recognize and honour your uniqueness. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

When the mind is free of fear, guilt, anger and is more centered, then it holds the power to heal any ailment. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Your life is perfect, it is a perfect plan; it is a spontaneous miracle. It is both every moment. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Dissolving the name is awareness.
Dissolving the form is meditation.
The world is name and form.
Bliss transcends name and form. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

If you ever feel lonely and feel that no one loves you and cares for you - remember me. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

A child does not try to know the mother, it simply has faith in her. In the same way, having faith in the Divine is the source of the greatest strength. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Our breath plays a very important role in our life. The breath is the connecting link between the inner world of the mind and the outer world of the body and environment. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Today is a gift from God - that is why it is called the present. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

How do we get out of our small mind? When we enquire into the core of our existence. What is life? Who am I? This spirit of self-inquiry can awaken something inside you. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

When you are totally defenseless, that's when you'll be strong. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar