150+ Illuminating Sri Ramana Maharshi Quotes on Stillness of Mind and Self-Realization
Last updated on May 30th, 2024 at 04:58 pm
Ramana Maharshi’s teachings focused on tapping into one’s consciousness and discovering the true self beyond the body and mind. He emphasized stillness of the mind, the power of silence, and the importance of direct experience over intellectual knowledge. Here’s a list of best Ramana Maharshi quotes that continue to inspire seekers on the path of self-discovery and realization.
Here’s a link to Ramana Maharshi biography post, you might be interested in.
Sri Ramana Maharshi Quotes on Ego

If ego rises, all will rise. If the ego merges, all will merge. The more we are humble, the better it is for us. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

There must be a subject to know the good and evil. That subject is the ego. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
If the ego does not rise, the Self alone exists and there is no second. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Reality is simply the loss of ego. Destroy the ego by seeking its identity. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The mind turned inwards is the Self; turned outwards, it becomes the ego and all the world. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The thought ‘I’ is the first thought of the mind; that is egoity. It is from that whence egoity originates that breath also originates. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
All unhappiness is due to the ego. With it comes all your trouble. If you would deny the ego and scorch it by ignoring it you would be free. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
That which comes and goes, rises and sets, is born and dies is the ego. That which always abides, never changes, and is devoid of qualities is the Self. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
If there is anything besides the Self there is reason to fear? Who sees the second? First, the ego arises and sees objects as external. If the ego does not rise, the Self alone exists and there is no second. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
See who is the doubter, who is the thinker. It is the ego. Hold it; the other thoughts will die away – the ego will be left pure. See the source from where the ego arises and abide in it. That is pure consciousness. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
All bad qualities centre round the ego. When the ego is gone, Realisation results by itself. There are neither good nor bad qualities in the Self. The Self is free from all qualities. Qualities pertain to the mind only. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Sri Ramana Maharshi Quotes on Stillness of Mind

Like the practice of breath control, meditation on the forms of God, repetition of mantras, food restrictions, etc., are but aids for rendering the mind quiescent. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

Mind is consciousness which has put on limitations. You are originally unlimited and perfect. Later you take on limitations and become the mind. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

Solitude is a function of the mind. A man attached to desires cannot get solitude wherever he may be, whereas a detached man is always in solitude. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

The mind can do nothing by itself. It emerges only with the illumination and can do no action good or bad, except with the illumination. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

Thoughts come and go. Feelings come and go. Find out what it is that remains. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

When there are thoughts, it is distraction: when there are no thoughts, it is meditation. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

Your true nature is that of infinite spirit. The feeling of limitation is the work of the mind. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The state free from thoughts is the only real state. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
If one’s mind has peace, the whole world will appear peaceful. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
When he falls asleep the whole idea vanishes; his mind is left a blank. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
In deep sleep mind is merged and not destroyed. That which merges reappears. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
It is the human mind that creates its own difficulties and then cries for help. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Pleasure and pain are only aspects of the mind. Our essential nature is happiness. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
One should try to gain equipoise of mind under all circumstances. That is willpower. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The only freedom you have is to turn your mind inward and renounce activities there. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Calmness is the criterion of spiritual progress. Plunge the purified mind into the Heart. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
You need not aspire for or get any new state. Get rid of your present thoughts, that is all. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Remaining quiet is what is called wisdom-insight. To remain quiet is to resolve the mind in the Self. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
In truth, you are spirit. The body has been projected by the mind, which itself originates from Spirit. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The pure mind is itself Brahman; it therefore follows that Brahman is not other than the mind of the sage. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Meditation helps concentration of the mind. Then the mind is free from thoughts and is in the meditated form. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The purpose of all these illustrations is to direct the seeker’s mind towards the one Reality underlying them all. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
When the mind, which is the cause of all cognitions and of all actions, becomes quiescent, the world will disappear. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
That which rises as ‘I’ in this body is the mind. If one inquires as to where in the body the thought ‘I’ rises first, one would discover that it rises in the heart. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
When the mind that is subtle goes out through the brain and the sense-organs, the gross names and forms appear; when it stays in the Heart, the names and forms disappear. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Who am I? Not the body, because it is decaying; not the mind, because the brain will decay with the body; not the personality, nor the emotions, for these also will vanish with death. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Even the structure of the atom has been found by the mind. Therefore the mind is subtler than the atom. That which is behind the mind, namely the individual soul, is subtler than the mind. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Doubts never end. If one doubt is removed, another takes its place. It is like removing the leaves of a tree one by one. Even if all the leaves are clipped off, new ones grow. The tree itself must be uprooted. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
If you are vigilant and make a stern effort to reject every thought when it rises, you will soon find that you are going deeper and deeper into your own inner self, where there is no need for your effort to reject the thoughts. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Sri Ramana Maharshi Quotes on Silence

Silence is ever speaking; it is the perennial flow of language. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

Silence is truth. Silence is bliss. Silence is peace. And hence Silence is the Self. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Silence is most powerful. Speech is always less powerful than silence. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
When one remains without thinking one understands another by means of the universal language of silence. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Our own self-realization is the greatest service we can render the world. Silence is also conversation. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen, try as you may. Whatever is destined to happen will happen, do what you may to prevent it. This is certain. The best course, therefore, is to remain silent. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Sri Ramana Maharshi Quotes on Self-realization

All are gurus to us, the wicked by their evil deeds say ‘do not come near me’. The good are always good, therefore all are like gurus to us. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

All that is required to realize the Self is to be still. What can be easier than that? – Sri Ramana Maharshi

All that one gives to others one gives to one’s self. If this truth is understood, who will not give to others? – Sri Ramana Maharshi

Correcting oneself is correcting the whole world. The Sun is simply bright. It does not correct anyone. Because it shines, the whole world is full of light. Transforming yourself is a means of giving light to the whole world. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

Every moment there is creation, every moment destruction. There is no absolute creation, no absolute destruction. Both are movement, and that is eternal. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

Grace is ever-present. All that is necessary is that you surrender to It. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

If the light of the sun is invisible to the owl it is only the fault of that bird and not of the sun. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

If you go on working with the light available, you will meet your Master, as he himself will be seeking you. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

Just before waking up from sleep, there is a very brief state, free from thought. That should be made permanent. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

Let come what comes, let go what goes. See what remains. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

The greatest error of a man is to think that he is weak by nature, evil by nature. Every man is divine and strong in his real nature. What are weak and evil are his habits, his desires and thoughts, but not himself. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

The Higher Power knows what to do and how to do it. Trust it. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

The Self cannot be found in books. You have to find it for yourself in yourself. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

The world is not outside you. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

There is neither creation nor destruction, neither destiny nor free will, neither path nor achievement. This is the final truth. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

There is neither Past nor Future. There is only the Present. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

To do self-enquiry and be that ‘I am’ is the only thing to do. ‘I am’ is reality. I am this or that is unreal. ‘I am’ is truth, another name for Self. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

When there is no ‘I’ there is no karma. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

You can only stop the flow of thoughts by refusing to have any interest in it. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

Your duty is to Be, and not to be this or that. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
It will come all right in the end. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Everything in the world was my Guru. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
You are already that which you seek. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The Eternal is not born nor does it die. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Suffering turns men towards their creator. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The solution to your problem is to see who has it. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
I am not the perishable body, but the eternal Self. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Devotion complete culminates in knowledge supreme. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
God has no resolve; no karma attaches itself to Him. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Those who succeed owe their success to perseverance. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Everyone knows ‘I am!’ No one can deny his own being. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
To perform one’s duty is the greatest service to God. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The best way to meditate is through meditation itself. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Self-reform automatically brings about social reform. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Liberation is not anywhere outside you. It is only within. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Mukti or liberation is our nature. It is another name for us. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
So long as they make efforts they will not be sages (jnanis). – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Eventually, all that one has learnt will have to be forgotten. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
There is no Truth. There is only the truth within each moment. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The spark of spiritual knowledge (jnana) will consume all creation. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Man’s search for happiness is an unconscious search for his true Self. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
There is no doubt whatsoever that the universe is the merest illusion. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
All knowledge will have to be finally given up to experience the truth. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
I am in the heart of all beings and am their beginning, middle and end. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Stillness is the sole requisite for the realization of the self as god. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
All things are being carried on by the omnipotent power of a Supreme God. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Turn your vision inward and the whole world will be full of supreme spirit. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
One must realise his Self in order to open the store of unalloyed happiness. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The revelation or intuition arises in its own time and one must wait for it. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The body dies, but the spirit that transcends it cannot be touched by death. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The only useful purpose of the present birth is to turn within and realize the Self. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
There is nothing like ‘within’ or ‘without.’ Both mean either the same thing or nothing. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
There is no doubt that the end of the paths of devotion and knowledge is one and the same. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
There is nothing new to gain. On the other hand a man must lose his ignorance. That is all. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Consciousness is indeed always with us. Everyone knows ‘I am!’ No one can deny his own being. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
All these viewpoints are only to suit the capacity of the learner. The absolute can be only one. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The ultimate truth is so simple; it is nothing more than being in one’s natural, original state. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
All activities and events that a body is to go through are determined at the time of conception. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
When we give up regarding the unreal as real, then the reality alone will remain and we will be that. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
A realized one sends out waves of spiritual influence in his aura, which draw many people towards him. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
God’s will for the prescribed course of events is a good solution for the vexed question of free-will. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
In the middle of the Heart-cave the pure Brahman is directly manifest as the Self in the form of ‘I-I’. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Not seeking what is other than the Self is detachment or desirelessness; not leaving the Self is wisdom. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Peace is the inner nature of humankind. If you find it within yourself, you will then find it everywhere. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The greatest obstacle to enlightenment is getting past your delusion that you are not already enlightened. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Realisation is not acquisition of anything new nor is it a new faculty. It is only removal of all camouflage. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The process of enquiry of course, is not an easy one. As one enquires ‘Who am I?’, other thoughts will arise. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
We are that. The very fact that we wish for liberation shows that freedom from all bondage is our real nature. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
When the world which is what-is-seen has been removed, there will be realization of the Self which is the seer. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The man who prays, the prayer, and the God to whom he prays all have reality only as manifestations of the Self. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
If your spiritual practice itself assumes the existence of the limitations, how can it help you to transcend them? – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Remain still, with the conviction that the Self shines as everything yet nothing, within, without, and everywhere. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The real is as it is always. We are not creating anything new or achieving something which we did not have before. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
You are the Supreme Being, and yet thinking yourself to be separate from it, you strive to become united with it. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The inquiry ‘Who am I?’ is the principal means to the removal of all misery and the attainment of the supreme bliss. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
For those who have obtained unobstructed knowledge of Self, the world is seen merely as a bondage causing imagination. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
When the wrong identification of oneself with the body ceases, the master will be found to be none other than the self. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
You are awareness. Awareness is another name for you. Since you are awareness there is no need to attain or cultivate it. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Mind your business. Take care of what you came here for. Find the ‘I’ first and you may afterwards speak of other matters. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Pure Consciousness, which is the Heart, includes all, and nothing is outside or apart from it. That is the ultimate Truth. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Till the time of death, the mind keeps breath in the body; and when the body dies the mind takes the breath along with it. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Instead of indulging in mere speculation, devote yourself here and now to the search for the Truth that is ever within you. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The thing to do is to concentrate on the seer and not on the seen, not on the objects, but on the Light which reveals them. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The question ‘Who am I?’ is not really meant to get an answer, the question ‘Who am I?’ is meant to dissolve the questioner. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
He who has renounced (the ‘I-thought’) thus, remains the same whether he is alone or in the midst of the extensive samsara. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
God takes the form of a Guru and appears to the devotee, teaches him the Truth, and, moreover, purifies his mind by association. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Self-enquiry is the one infallible means, the only direct one, to realize the unconditioned, absolute being that you really are. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
A man may be sleeping here with his body inert, and yet he may be climbing hills and falling from them in dream at the same time. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
A man should surrender the personal selfishness which binds him to this world. giving up the false self is the true renunciation. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The degree of freedom from unwanted thoughts and the degree of concentration on a single thought are the measures to gauge spiritual progress. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Complete surrender does require that you have no desire of your own, that God’s desire alone is your desire and that you have no desire of your own. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
It is the Higher Power which does everything, and the man is only a tool. If he accepts that position, he is free from troubles; otherwise, he courts them. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Have faith in God and in yourself; that will cure all. Hope for the best, expect the best, toil for the best and everything will come right for you in the end. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Wanting to reform the world without discovering one’s true self is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
I have never said that there is no need for a guru. All depends on what you call guru. He need not be in a human form. Actions yield result by the ordinance of God as He wills. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
If you hold this feeling of ‘I’ long enough and strongly enough, the false ‘I’ will vanish leaving only the unbroken awareness of the real, immanent ‘I’, consciousness itself. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
It is after the appearance of the first personal pronoun that the second and third personal pronouns appear; without the first personal pronoun there will not be the second and third. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Think of God; attachments will gradually drop away. If you wait till all desires disappear before starting your devotion and prayer, you will have to wait for a very long time indeed. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
If the mind falls asleep, awaken it. Then if it starts wandering, make it quiet. If you reach the state where there is neither sleep nor movement of mind, stay still in that, the natural (real) state. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The mind itself is of the form of all, i.e., of soul, God and world; when it becomes of the form of the Self through knowledge, there is release, which is of the nature of Brahman: this is the teaching. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The means that make one qualified for enquiry are meditation, yoga, etc. One should gain proficiency in these through graded practice and thus secure a stream of mental modes that is natural and helpful. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The Self is self-luminous without darkness and light, and is the reality which is self-manifest. Therefore, one should not think of it as this or as that. The very thought of thinking will end in bondage. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
The Power that created you has created the world as well. If it can take care of you, it can similarly take care of the world also. If God has created the world, it is His business to look after it, not yours. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
It is by virtue of the mere presence of God that the souls governed by the three (cosmic) functions or the fivefold divine activity perform their actions and then rest, in accordance with their respective karmas. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Concentration of the mind is in a way common to both Knowledge and Yoga. Yoga aims at union of the individual with the universal, the Reality. This Reality cannot be new. It must exist even now, and it does exist. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Time is only an idea. There is only the Reality. Whatever you think it is, it looks like that. If you call it time, it is time. If you call it existence, it is existence, and so on. After calling it time, you divide it into days and nights, months, years, hours, minutes, etc. Time is immaterial for the Path of Knowledge. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi Quotes on Life

It is every intelligent man’s experience that evildoing recoils on the doer sooner or later. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

The end of all wisdom is love, love, love. – Sri Ramana Maharshi

Without understanding yourself, what is the use of trying to understand the world? – Sri Ramana Maharshi
As you are, so is the world. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Action and knowledge are not obstacles to each other. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Do what is right at a given moment and leave it behind. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Unless one is happy, one cannot bestow happiness on others. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Transforming yourself is a means of giving light to the whole world. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Aim high, aim at the highest, and all lower aims are thereby achieved. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
No one succeeds without effort… Those who succeed owe their success to perseverance. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
One can know oneself only with one’s own eye of knowledge, and not with somebody else’s. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
There is no greater mystery than this: being reality ourselves, we seek to gain Reality. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Hope for the best, expect the best, toil for the best and everything will come right for you in the end. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
If we regard ourselves as the doers of action we shall also be the enjoyers of the fruits of such action. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
Why should you trouble yourself about the future? You do not even properly know about the present. Take care of the present, the future will take care of itself. – Sri Ramana Maharshi
You can further explore the profound wisdom of Sri Ramana Maharshi in the book “Who Am I?: The Teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi” available on Amazon.