Eknath Easwaran Quotes

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• A calm mind releases the most precious capacity a human being can have: the capacity to turn anger into compassion, fear into fearlessness, and hatred into love.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Grateful, Compassion, Calm Mind

  58 Copy quote

• We look at the world through our likes and dislikes, hopes and fears, opinions and judgments. We want everyone to behave as we think they should; otherwise we get agitated. But we are here to accept the world as it is, even as we work to make it better.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Change, Hope, Fear

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• The Sufis advise us to speak only after our words have managed to pass through three gates. At the first gate, we ask ourselves, 'Are these words true?' If so, we let them pass on; if not, back they go. At the second gate, we ask, 'Are the necessary?' At the last gate, we ask, 'Are they kind?'

  Eknath Easwaran

  Spiritual, Lasts, Firsts

  37 Copy quote

• There is a close relationship between a house full of possessions and a heart full of desires, between a cluttered closet and a crowded schedule, between having no place to put possessions and having no priorities for our life. These are precious clues. They remind us to slow down, to live in the present, to reduce the desires that drain our vitality, to clarify priorities so we can give our time and attention to what matters most. Tragically, in the press of modern life, we have managed to get backwards one of life's most vital truths: people are to be loved; things are to be used.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Love, Relationship, Truth

  60 Copy quote

• Patience can't be acquired overnight. It is just like building up a muscle. Every day you need to work on it.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Patience, Building Up, Needs

  Eknath Easwaran (2009). “Renewal: A Little Book of Courage and Hope”, p.29, Nilgiri Press

  39 Copy quote

• When mystics use the word love, they use it very carefully - in the deeply spiritual sense, where to love is to know; to love is to act. If you really love, from the depths of your Consciousness, that love gives you a native wisdom. You perceive the needs of others intuitively and clearly, with detachment from any personal desires; and you know how to act creatively to meet those needs, dexterously surmounting any obstacle that comes in the way. Such is the immense, driving power of love.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Spiritual, Love Is, Giving

  53 Copy quote

• I like to remind my friends frequently how short life is. This is the important message of death: not a day to waste, not a day to quarrel, not a day to brood upon yourself. This is not losing the joy of life; this is gaining the joy of life.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Short Life, Joy, Important

  39 Copy quote

• Meditation is warm-up exercise for the mind, so that you can jog through the rest of the day without getting agitated or spraining your patience.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Exercise, Meditation, Mind

  Eknath Easwaran (2010). “Conquest of Mind: Take Charge of Your Thoughts & Reshape Your Life Through Meditation”, p.38, Nilgiri Press

  46 Copy quote

• There are three kinds of violence: one, through our deeds; two, through our words; and three, through our thoughts. …The root of all violence is in the world of thoughts, and that is why training the mind is so important.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Two, Roots, Training

  Eknath Easwaran (2010). “Words to Live By: Short Readings of Daily Wisdom”, p.114, Nilgiri Press

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• When we are at home with ourselves, we are at home everywhere in the world. When we have found peace within ourselves, peace and love follow us wherever we go.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Home, And Love, World

  Eknath Easwaran (1979). “The End of Sorrow: The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living, Vol I”, p.144, Nilgiri Press

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• It may sound paradoxical, but however tight our schedule, however many things clamor to be done, we don't need to hurry. If we can keep our mind calm and go about our business with undivided attention, we will not only accomplish more but we'll do a better job - and find ourselves more patient, more at peace.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Jobs, Mind, Sound

  10 Copy quote

• When someone at peace and free from hurry enters a room, that person has a calming effect on everyone present.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Peace, Calming Effect, Rooms

  Eknath Easwaran (1991). “Meditation: A Simple Eight-point Program for Translating Spiritual Ideals Into Daily Life”, p.91, Nilgiri Press

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• Do not feed your ego and your problems with your attention. ...Slowly, surely, the ego will lose weight, until one fine day it will be nothing but a thin ghost of its former self. You will be able to see right through it, to the divine presence that shines in each of us.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Self, Shining, Ego

  "Words to Live By: Short Readings of Daily Wisdom".

  29 Copy quote

• In the spiritual lore of India there is a story that the Lord whispered only one word in our ears when he sent us into the world: 'Give.' Give freely of your time, your talent, your resources; give without asking for anything in return. This is the secret of living in joy and security.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Spiritual, Giving, Joy

  Eknath Easwaran (1979). “Like a Thousand Suns: The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living, Volume II”, p.186, Nilgiri Press

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• The things we think about, brood on, dwell on, and exult over influence our life in a thousand ways. When we can actually choose the direction of our thoughts instead of just letting them run along the grooves of conditioned thinking, we become the masters of our own lives.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Life, Running, Thinking

  27 Copy quote

• Every angry thought makes it a little easier to get angry the next time, and a little more likely.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Anger, Littles, Next

  Eknath Easwaran (2009). “Essence of the Upanishads: A Key to Indian Spirituality”, p.167, Nilgiri Press

  26 Copy quote

• We have to have a purpose greater than the endless struggle to satisfy personal desires.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Struggle, Desire, Purpose

  Eknath Easwaran (2010). “Conquest of Mind: Take Charge of Your Thoughts & Reshape Your Life Through Meditation”, p.183, Nilgiri Press

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• Lasting change happens when people see for themselves that a different way of life is more fulfilling than their present one.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Inspirational, Lasting Change, People

  Eknath Easwaran “The Compassionate Universe: The Power of the Individual to Heal the Environment”, Nilgiri Press

  23 Copy quote

• Meditation may require a lifetime to master, but it will have been a lifetime well spent. ... If you want to judge your progress, ask yourself these questions: Am I more loving? Is my judgment sounder? Do I have more energy? Can my mind remain calm under provocation? Am I free from the conditioning of anger, fear, and greed? Spiritual awareness reveals itself as eloquently in character development and selfless action as in mystical states.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Spiritual, Character, Judging

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• An unhurried mind brings the capacity to make wise choices every day - choices of how we use our time, of where we place our resources and our love. I am not just talking about avoiding the rat race, but about a life full of an artistic beauty - a life that has almost vanished from modern civilization, but is quite within the reach of everyone.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Wise, Race, Talking

  Eknath Easwaran (2012). “Take Your Time: The Wisdom of Slowing Down”, p.54, Nilgiri Press

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• Nothing really worth having comes quickly and easily. If it did, I doubt that we would ever grow.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Motivational, Doubt, Grows

  Eknath Easwaran “How to Meditate: first chapter "Meditation on a Passage" from "Passage Meditation – A Complete Spiritual Practice"”, Nilgiri Press

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• When we go slower, we are more patient and when we are more patient we have a choice in how we respond.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Choices, Patient

  Eknath Easwaran (2010). “Words to Live By: Short Readings of Daily Wisdom”, p.231, Nilgiri Press

  27 Copy quote

• When we meditate every morning we are putting on armor for the day's battle against our own impatience, inadequacy, resentment, and hostility.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Morning, Battle, Armor

  Eknath Easwaran (1979). “The End of Sorrow: The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living, Vol I”, p.46, Nilgiri Press

  26 Copy quote

• Human relationships are the perfect tool for sanding away our rough edges and getting at the core of divinity within us.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Relationship, Rough Edges, Perfect

  Eknath Easwaran (2010). “Words to Live By: Short Readings of Daily Wisdom”, p.19, Nilgiri Press

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• It is not action or effort that we must surrender; it is self-will, and this is terribly difficult. You must do your best constantly, yet never allow yourself to become involved in whether things work out the way you want.

  Eknath Easwaran

  Self, Work Out, Effort

  Eknath Easwaran (1979). “Like a Thousand Suns: The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living, Volume II”, p.371, Nilgiri Press

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