Radhanath Swami Quotes

Where there is no inner freedom, there is no life.

A dog will recognize his master in whatever way he dresses. The master may dress in robes, suit and tie, or stand naked, but the dog will always recognize his master. If we cannot recognize God, our beloved master, when he comes in a different dress from another religion, then we are less than that dog.

Man cannot be enlightened through any organization, creed, dogma, priest or ritual, nor through any philosophical knowledge or psychological technique. He has to find it through understanding the contents of his own mind, through observation, not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection.

God, who is absolute, reveals himself to different people in different ways [..] I realized it would be very narrow to think there was only one way to God.

We were fine originally and lost that fine-ness. That's when we became defined.

You have too many gurus in this country. They have told you what to do, what to think, what to practice. They are the dictators.

Where there is faith, fear cannot exist.

Sex could be a gift of God, but when it becomes an obsession, it plunders all intelligence and people are driven to abominable acts to satisfy their lust. When passion is frustrated, people lose all good sense.

When there is love in our heart, only love will come out.

If we become overly attached to externals, we may forget their very purpose: to purify the heart

Suffering is sent to remind us to turn our thoughts towards God, who will give us solace.

A tree will stand in the scorching sun to give shade to others. A tree will bear the freezing cold of the winter and give wood to create heat for all. A tree will silently even give up its life to give its body to build a house for others to stay comfortably. That is tolerance.

Krishna tells Arjuna in Gita whether you win or lose that is not important, what is important is that you perform your duty with right attitude.

His eyes twinkled as he smiled. “Love everyone, serve everyone, and feed everyone. Serve like Hanuman without selfishness and greed. This is the key to realizing God.

Mother Ganges teaches us that if we want to attain the sea of our aspiration, we must persevere in our goal and never be discouraged by the inevitable obstacles that come on our path.

Whenever you possibly can, sustain the flow of the Holy Name. To repeat His Name is to be in His presence. If you associate with the Supreme Friend, He will reveal His true beauty to you.

Just serve every creature in God’s creation with humility, respect, and love.” Or, “Just sing the names of Rama and everything else will be attained.

...our free will could convert a curse into a blessing or a blessing into a curse...To transform a crisis into an opportunity was true wisdom

Real self-confidence is not based on our achievements or our successes in this world but it is based on the fulfillment of who we are, what our purpose is, and what we represent to ourselves, to our families, and to the world around us. If a person has such self-confidence, then he can generate faith and confidence in others.

One path may appear in different forms, but the Kingdom of God is the goal we all share. It is the men of small minds who create confusion.

Perhaps, I thought, the miracle of being an instrument of kindness is the most powerful of all.

When one does not have wisdom, one behaves like a leaf of a ‘touch-me-not’ plant, which shrinks its leaves at the slightest touch of a drop of water. The drop of water is compared to calamities that come into our life. When one becomes like a ‘touch-me-not’ plant, one becomes sensitive to even small provocations. One starts whining at small things, shrinks when calamities come and blasts those who touch him.

The world oscillates endlessly between pleasure and pain,” she continued. “There can be no security, no stability here. These are to be found in God alone.

To grow may require that we be shaken right to our core.

I will reject the teachings of the teacher who teaches us to reject teachers and teachings,

One path may appear in different forms, but the Kingdom of God is the goal we all share. It is the men of small minds who create confusion.” He released my hand and affectionately patted my head. “Do not be troubled my son. You are sincere. God will guide you.” His words touched my heart.

I have discovered that God’s love manifests in different ways to different people. There are saints in the various spiritual traditions who sacrifice their lives for the love of God and goodwill toward man.

If we understand the underlying cause of what we think of as bad in someone, instead of being hateful, we will be compassionate. For is not every soul inherently good? A saintly person will hate the disease but love the diseased.

My dear Lord Krishna, you are so kind upon this useless soul, but I do not know why you have brought me here. Now you can do whatever you like with me. But I guess you have some business here, otherwise why would you bring me to this place? Somehow or other, O Lord, You have brought me here to speak about you. Now, my Lord, it is up to you to make me a success or failure as you like. O spiritual master of all the worlds. I can simply repeat your message; so if you like you can make my power of speaking suitable for their understanding. Only by Your causeless mercy will my words become pure. I am sure that when this transcendental message penetrates their hearts they will certainly feel engladdened and thus become liberated from all unhappy conditions of life. O Lord, I am just like a puppet in your hands. So if you have brought me here to dance, then make me dance, make me dance, O Lord, make me dance as you like. I have no devotion, nor do I have any knowledge, but I have strong faith in the holy name of Krishna. I have been designated as Bhaktivedanta, one who possesses devotion and knowledge, and now, if you like, you can fulfill the real purport of Bhaktivedanta. Signed, the most unfortunate, insignificant beggar, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, On board the ship Jaladuta, Commonwealth Pier, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. 18th of September, 1965

There is only one cause of all worries and anxiety and that is selfishness.

Another quality of salt is that it remains hidden even though it adds flavor to a dish. People praise a dish by appreciating the quality of its grains or vegetables or spices, but no one says, ‘The salt in this dish was fabulous!’ Like salt, true yogis serve without wanting recognition or praise. They are happy to give credit to others and interested simply in doing their best to give pleasure to the Divine and benefit others.

Suddenly, the bus stopped in the midst of a vast desert. In a moment everyone got off. Was this an emergency? No, not at all. The passengers carefully unrolled their prayer rugs on the sand and faced the direction of the Holy City of Mecca, performing their Namaz, or offering of prostrations and salutations to Allah and his Prophet Mohammed. Every few hours this ritual was repeated with no consideration of where we were. The religion of these tribal people was their life. They were not mullahs, priests, yogis, or monks, but ordinary family people. Yet in all situations and places it impressed me how their devotion to Allah took priority.

Everything that takes place in our life is God revealing His miraculous, incredible mercy upon us.

found myself lost in thought. What could we learn from the tragedy of Pompeii? At any moment disaster can come upon anyone. In our complacency, we fail to grasp the impermanence of all that is material. I thought of the bubonic plague that had ravaged Europe, the atomic bomb that leveled Hiroshima, the earthquakes and fires that had destroyed cities in America. Through the history of mankind, the powers of nature take everything away from us. Why put off seeking the eternal jewel of enlightenment? Now is the time. As Mount Vesuvius had erupted, leaving a civilization in ashes, there had erupted from my heart an exclusive commitment to the path of spirituality, to leave all else in the ashes of my past.

He also told me of the five obligations Muslims have to fulfill in their lives: to believe in Allah as the one true God, to offer namaz or prayer five times every day, to fast during the month of Ramadan, to give in charity to the deprived, and to perform Hajji—the pilgrimage to Mecca—at least once in life.

As I proceeded to my cave for the night, my stomach rumbled. Compared to the treasure of spiritual experience, worldly acquisition is like those peanuts, I thought to myself. People lie, cry, and die for a few of these peanuts. They fight and struggle for a handful. Wars are raged over them. But at any moment, a monkey, another’s greed, or even the inevitable march of time may plunder from us our cherished peanuts.

We asked an old monk sitting beside us to explain. “Here, we contemplate the impermanence of the body and its attachments. This helps us to overcome the temptations of the flesh and seek refuge in the Kingdom of God.” We listened carefully. Deeper in the catacombs, a group of skeletons wearing monk robes pointed to a sign that read: “As you are now, we used to be. As we are now, you will be.

Radhanath Swami once told me a story from the Bhagavad Gita about Krishna as a boy that exemplifies the necessity for lightness and joy when confronting dark power. As is often the case in mythical tales, a village was besieged by the mischief and evil perpetrated by a tyrannical and wicked serpent. This serpent was a real arsehole and was living in the lake where the villagers got all their water. He had multiple heads – that means he was a hydra, a many-headed monster – and he had a few wives too. Oddly they are depicted as human, and if you don’t mind my saying so, quite fit. When I saw them, in the form of a statue depicting the event, I was peeved that this venomous troublemaker got to live in his lake with such top-notch crumpet. To say nothing of the fact that there were two of them. In the proper version of the story, when told by a monk (to me in my garden),

Both our possessions and our talents are divine property entrusted to us, and we are truthful when we recognize that and use them with humility and gratitude.

All beautiful forms of this world are in the process of transformation. Nothing is stable. With every moment, our reality is changing. Mother Ganges, like nature, is constant, but no manifestation of hers remains.

True spiritual life is to know that you are beyond the body, mind, and ego and realize the soul within and to realize God and be godly. This alone will bring peace.

Swami,” Gary said, “our lives are totally opposite. What do we have in common? I’m a physical trainer and convince people that they’ll be happy with a healthy, handsome body. But you’re a swami and convince them that they’ll be happy if they realize that they’re not the body at all, but an eternal soul.

Prabhupada has often said that with India’s philosophy and America’s wealth, the world can really prosper. He calls us Western devotees his ‘dancing white elephants’!

How foolish it was of me to look down on them, feeling that I was better because of my ascetic lifestyle. I now understand that detachment is only sacred to the degree it fosters humility, respect, and love.

when our hearts embraced hope, we attracted a power beyond ourselves to guide us, purify us and, ultimately, liberate us.

In this, she taught me that happiness comes not from the material thing, but from the love with which it is given.

Why should I waste my life trying to fit in with the social fashions of my peers? Why not try to live on my own terms? And hopefully, someday, on God’s terms?

our free will could convert a curse into a blessing or a blessing into a curse.

Mother Ganges teaches us that if we want to attain the sea of our aspiration, we must persevere in our goal and never be discouraged by the inevitable obstacles that come on our path. All impediments are like rocks in the river of life. We should flow around them and never give up. With the Lord’s help, there is always a way. As

As I sat on that rock, I imagined that watching the flow of the river was like watching the passing of life. If one is inside the river, one is greatly affected by it, but if one sits on the bank, one can observe it with detachment. Mother Ganges teaches that if we learn to be detached from our ego and the flurry of the mind, senses, and the world around us, and observe life with a sober disposition, we gain wisdom.

Sustainability is about directing the passion of creation to a point of balance and preservation, including self-preservation. Because there can be no self-preservation if we don’t conserve the earth, it is crucial to our well-being that we recognize a simple truth: if we do not balance our creative passion with the sustaining quality of goodness, it will by default degrade to the debilitating influence of ignorance. The model we have now is passion leading to ignorance, creation leading to destruction.

We can all choose to live and die depressed or with gratitude.

Верблюду, чтобы сделать шаг вперед, нужно сначала оторвать ногу от земли. А волнам реки, чтобы достичь моря, нужно полностью отдать себя на волю течения. Так и человек, чтобы двигаться вперед, должен оставить позади себя свое прошлое

Интимная близость может быть даром Божьим, но, когда стремление к ней превращается в навязчивую идею, человек теряет рассудок и ради удовлетворения собственной похоти готов на самые низменные поступки

Непревзойденные чудеса, творимые Богом, окружают нас повсюду, но мы видим их каждый день, привыкаем и потому не обращаем на них внимания. Подняв с земли семечко баньяна, я стал, внимательно рассматривать его. Господь поместил в это крошечное семечко огромное дерево, и каждое такое дерево даст еще тысячи семян. Это ли не чудо? Есть и другие примеры. В одной туче, легко плывущей по небу, Бог хранит столько воды, что ею можно затопить целый город

Никогда не впадай в уныние из-за постигшей тебя неудачи, если ты знаешь, что сделал все что мог

Тот, кто подавляет свою внутреннюю природу, разрушает самого себя

I have no way to repay your love. I can only give you myself. —RAMAYANA (RAMA TO HANUMAN AS THEY EMBRACE)

Whenever you want to become selfless, loving, without ego you will find great force behind you. You will never fail to achieve some good.

And whenever we were given a gift, she stressed it's the thought that counts. In this she taught me that happiness comes not from the material thing but from the love from which it is given.

The most beautiful things in life cannot be seen or touched, but can be felt by the heart. —HELEN KELLER

Earn with integrity, spend with compassion.’ —Radhanath Swami

I am the soul, distinct from the world of externals, a child of god.

Pure love must be selfless, without selfish motives.

Throughout the world, people look at life through different windows.

I was begging for answers to questions that sprang from a place so deep in me that they overshadowed all other concerns.

„I have never seen you sleep with a stick, Baba. Is there a reason you have one now?“ „Yes, the villagers sent news that a man-eating leopard is in the area. It has already massacred some cows and villagers. ... I‘m keeping this stick for protection.“ „But what will that small stick do to protect us from a wild leopard?“ „Nothing. Only the Lord can protect us. ... However, our duty is to show Krishna that we are doing our part.

The cause of all suffering is when we forget our identity with god. That is called Maya, or illusion. God is everywhere. You need not search to find him. If you call him with sincerity, he will reveal himself to you. God sees within the heart not the externals. There must be no duplicity. You may wander through the jungles your whole life, but god is within your heart. When you meet him there, you will see that he is everywhere.

Enduring difficulty for a meaningful purpose is a sublime pleasure.

As it is written in the Holy Bible, ‘man is made in the image of God.

The greatest of all wealth is the wealth of love.