Top 90 Eknath Easwaran Quotes (2024 Update)
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51. “Like Gandhi, like the Buddha, like all great spiritual teachers, Easwaran had no use for beliefs unless they generated actions. Doing, not saying, is what counts.”

— Eknath Easwaran

52. “The earth was our home, she would have said, but no less was it home to the oxen that pulled our plows or the elephants that roamed in the forest and worked for us. They lived with us as partners whose well-being was inseparable from our own.”

— Eknath Easwaran

53. “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

54. “Wisdom may be perennial, but to see its relevance we must see it lived out.”

— Eknath Easwaran

55. “Our deepest need is for the joy that comes with knowing we are of genuine use to others.”

— Eknath Easwaran

56. “As by knowing one tool of iron, dear one, we come to know all things made out of iron: that they differ only in name and form, while the stuff of which all are made is iron- so through that spiritual wisdom, dear one, we come to know that ll of life is one.”

— Eknath Easwaran

57. “By removing that which is petty and self-seeking, we bring forth all that is glorious and mindful of the whole.”

— Eknath Easwaran

58. “Mastery does not come from dabbling. We have to be prepared to pay the price. We need to have the sustained enthusiasm that motivates us to give our best.”

— Eknath Easwaran

59. “We have no need to teach pure motives to the mind. All that is necessary to make the mind pure is to undo the negative conditioning to which it has been subjected; then we will be left with Pure, Unconditioned Awareness.”

— Eknath Easwaran

60. “The effect of the mantram is cumulative: constant repetition, constant practice, is required for the mantram to take root in our consciousness and gradually transform it, just as constant repetition makes the advertiser’s jingle stick in our minds.”

— Eknath Easwaran

61. “The Buddha said, “When you are walking, walk. When you are sitting, sit. Don’t wobble.”

— Eknath Easwaran

62. “Judged by the normal standards of human affairs, the lives of men and women of God may look overburdened with suffering, and even inconclusive.”

— Eknath Easwaran

63. “The ancestor of every destructive action, every destructive decision, is a negative thought.”

— Eknath Easwaran

64. “The law of karma says that no matter what context I find myself in, it is neither my parents, nor my science teacher, nor the mailman, but I alone who have brought myself into this state because of my past actions. Instead of trapping me in a fatalistic snare, this gives me freedom. Because I alone have brought myself into my present condition, I myself, by working hard and striving earnestly, can reach the supreme state which is nirvana.”

— Eknath Easwaran

65. “To love, we need to be sensitive to those around us, which is impossible if we are racing through life engrossed in all the things we need to do before sunset. In fact, I would go to the extent of saying that a person who is always late will find it difficult to love; he will be in too much of a hurry.”

— Eknath Easwaran

66. “Instead of looking at difficulties as deprivations, we can learn to recognize them as opportunities for deepening and widening our love.”

— Eknath Easwaran

67. “Full concentration brings relaxation and joy. It is the struggle of divided attention that brings a great deal of the misery that we associate with jobs we don’t like.”

— Eknath Easwaran

68. “At the beginning of every winter people are careful to install storm windows. These extra panes of glass protect their houses against the bitter winds. We do something very similar to protect our minds through the practice of meditation.”

— Eknath Easwaran

69. “As long as we lean on anything outside ourselves for support, we are going to be insecure. Most of us try to find support by leaning on all sorts of things – gold, books, learning, sensory stimulation – and if these things are taken away, we fall over. To the extent that we are dependent on these external supports, we grow weaker and more liable to upsets and misfortune.”

— Eknath Easwaran

70. “Patience is an unfailing remedy for friction in personal relations. Even if a person has never won a beauty contest, has no money in the bank, can’t even change a flat tire, if he or she has inexhaustible patience, then we will find that life with such a person will never grow stale.”

— Eknath Easwaran

71. “The popular etymology of the word mantram gives us some clue what it means to have the holy name at work in our consciousness. It is said that mantram comes from the roots man, “the mind,” and tri, “to cross.” The mantram is that which enables us to cross the sea of the mind. The sea is a perfect symbol for the mind. It is in constant motion; there is calm one day and storm the next.”

— Eknath Easwaran

72. “If someone who is agitated comes to visit you, wanting to discuss their agitation and weigh the pros and cons of what action he should take, my suggestion is to give him the mantram album and say, “why don’t you just write Rama, Rama, Rama a thousand times?”

— Eknath Easwaran

73. “As long as there are poor people in the world, as long as there are people who are deprived and handicapped in the world, if we are sensitive, we will not load ourselves with unnecessary adornment.”

— Eknath Easwaran

74. “To be secure everywhere is the mark of sophistication, to be unshakable is the mark of courage, to be permanently in love with every person is the mark of masculinity or femininity, to forgive is the mark of strength, to govern our senses and passions is the mark of freedom.”

— Eknath Easwaran

75. “Each time a divine incarnation comes to us, it is not to bring new truths or to establish a new religion but to remind us of what we have forgotten: that we are all one, and that we must live in harmony with this unity by learning to contribute to the joy and fulfillment of all.”

— Eknath Easwaran

76. “At the first gate, the gatekeeper asks, “Is this true?” At the second gate, he asks, “Is it kind?” And at the third gate, “Is it necessary?” If we applied this proverb strictly, most of us would have very little to say. I am not recommending silence, however, but control over our speech.”

— Eknath Easwaran

77. “In themselves, most of these thoughts are not actually harmful; a few of them may even be rather elevating. The trouble is that we have very little control over them. If you ask the thoughts, they would say, “This poor fellow thinks he is thinking us, but we are thinking him.”

— Eknath Easwaran

78. “It is a very difficult secret to understand that when we do not want to possess another selfishly, he or she will always love us. It is when we do not want to possess, when we do not make demand after demand, that the relationship will last.”

— Eknath Easwaran

79. “To get angry with oneself and reject oneself is not helpful and is not what the Buddha teaches. The best thing is not to say either “I’m all good” or “I’m worthless; I’m no good.” The best thing is not to think about oneself, not talk about oneself, not dwell upon oneself at all – to be neither overconfident nor self-deprecating.”

— Eknath Easwaran

80. “Whenever you are angry or afraid, nervous or worried or resentful, repeat the mantram until the agitation subsides. The mantram works to steady the mind, and all these emotions are power running against you, which the mantram can harness and put to work for you.”

— Eknath Easwaran

81. “Fasting may not be as easy as feasting, but after a while it is not too different. Both are extremes. It is not hard to go the extreme way, but what is really difficult is neither to fast nor to feast, but to be moderate in everything we do.”

— Eknath Easwaran

82. “When we try to get ourselves out of the way, we can understand much better the needs of the people closest to us.”

— Eknath Easwaran

83. “Anything that tends to make us elated is inevitably going to throw us into depression.”

— Eknath Easwaran

84. “When people used to complain to the Buddha that they were upset, telling him, “Our children upset us; our partner agitates us,” his simple reply would be, “You are not upset because of your children or your partner; you are upset because you are upsettable.”

— Eknath Easwaran

85. “We become in part what our senses take in.”

— Eknath Easwaran

86. “Undivided singleness of mind” is what the Gita means by yoga. It is the complete opposite of the incessant civil warfare among intellect, senses, emotions, and instincts which is our usual state of mind. Yoga is the complete reintegration of all these fragments on every level of the personality. It is the process of becoming whole.”

— Eknath Easwaran

87. “When we do things with only a part of the mind, we are just skimming the surface of life. Nothing sinks in; nothing has real impact. It leads to an empty feeling inside. Unfortunately, it is this very emptiness that drives us to pack in even more, seeking desperately to fill the void in our hearts. What we need to do is just the opposite: to slow down and live completely in the present. Then every moment will be full.”

— Eknath Easwaran

88. “I still remember a dying seal looking at me in mute appeal as if to say, “You people are supposed to protect us. You are the trustees of our world. Why aren’t you doing your job?”

— Eknath Easwaran

89. “Often, it is this anguish of parting – the death of a loved one, the breaking apart of a deep relationship, even the growing up of our children – that propels us into the search for a reality that will never let us down; so this opening passage illustrates, through the experience of Maitreyi, the state of seriousness, of being shocked into alertness, that makes one ready to absorb spiritual insight.”

— Eknath Easwaran

90. “Those who indulge themselves in sense stimulation throughout their lives often end up exhausted, with an enfeebled will and little capacity to love others.”

— Eknath Easwaran

91. “The Lord is present in every one of us, and when we love those around us, we are loving him.”

— Eknath Easwaran