Indian Philosophy Quotes

“Discontent with the actual is the necessary precondition of every moral change and spiritual rebirth.”
― Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy: Volume I

“The ancient sages of Kashmir Shaivism did not look for the truth only in logic and intellectual speculation. They relied much more on their experiences during deep yogic states to guide them in understanding and clarifying age-old philosophical dilemmas. They discovered the Absolute within themselves and found that they were one with it. They studied the Self that lay beyond the mind and the ego, and found that It was divine, creative energy. God was not some distant ruler or some inert entity. These sages realized and recognized that He was within everything, was the vitality of life itself, and was always the one transcendent Reality as well. In this way Kashmir Shaivites taught the principle of theistic absolutism.

For centuries Indian philosophers have been debating whether this world is real or an illusion. In the process of watching the unfolding of their own creative energy during meditation, the sages of Kashmir found the source of all creation, and witnessed how everything in this universe evolves from this one absolute Reality into manifestation which is also real. Because all creation exists within the Absolute, they established the principle of spiritual realism.

— B. N. Pandit, Specific Principles of Kashmir Shaivism (3rd ed., 2008), p. x”
― Balajinnatha Pandita, Specific Principles of Kashmir Saivism [Hardcover] [Apr 01, 1998] Paṇḍita, BalajinnaÌ"tha

“कर्म वही है जिससे कर्म के उद्देश्य की पूर्ति हो। उस प्रकार किया गया कर्म ही कर्मकाण्ड हो सकता है।”
― गुरुदत्त [Gurudutt], दिग्विजय [Digvijaya]

“जब कर्मकाण्ड उद्देश्य-पूर्ति का विचार छोड़कर स्वतः करने योग्य कार्य बन जाता है, तब वह आडम्बर हो जाता है।”
― गुरुदत्त [Gurudutt], दिग्विजय [Digvijaya]

“Western philosophy has remained more or less true to the etymological meaning of ‘philosophy’, in being essentially an intellectual quest for truth. Indian Philosophy has been, however, intensely spiritual and has always emphasized the need of practical realization of truth. The word ‘darshana’ means ‘vision’ and also the ‘instrument of vision’. It stands for the direct, immediate and intuitive vision of Reality, the actual perception of Truth, and also includes the means which led to this realization. ‘See the Self’ (ātmā vā are draṣṭavyaḥ) is the keynote of all schools of Indian Philosophy.”
― Chandradhar Sharma, Critical Survey Of Indian Philosophy

“Spirituality is not about 'the doings' but 'the living'. Once chosen, one ought to follow it 24x7 endlessly to be spiritual.”
― Mahayogi Buddh Puri

“Spirituality is not about rituals but purport. And without that, no path would take you anywhere.”
― Mahayogi Buddh Puri

“Spirit is a subtle force, somewhat like electricity. One cannot confine or attach it to any object. Accordingly, spirituality is about transcending every limit: caste or creed or country or anything else.”
― Mahayogi Buddh Puri

“Spirituality greatly depends on dispassion. Cravings for the worldly feat and spiritual growth are contradictory.”
― Mahayogi Buddh Puri

“Perseverance is the paramount quality on the spiritual path. To succeed, one must make a firm resolve to not deviate from this path despite all odds.”
― Mahayogi Buddh Puri

“The three best friends of a spiritual seeker are self-study, self-control, and selfless service.”
― Mahayogi Buddh Puri

“Self-study means studying, in the light of scriptures, our body and mind to make the necessary rectifications, and our soul to reinstate its correlation.”
― Mahayogi Buddh Puri

“I came to philosophy first through Plato. I was very interested in Plato, the person and his works.
[The] Republic is a much larger work. I was fascinated particularly by his Symposium. It is a beautiful work with Plato’s signature dialogues and the speech on Socrates, Aristophanes and others. I read the history of western philosophy and eventually moved to Indian philosophy.”
― Karan Singh, An Examined Life: Essays and Reflections by Karan Singh

“Your dreams and your actual life have different paces. For most people, dream life runs too fast for them. They continuously dream and after a few years, they realize that in real life, they have not moved a bit. Eventually, this gap between achieving in real life and in dream life is at the core of all the pain we suffer.”
― Anupam S Shlok

“The universe has been distinguished into seven different spheres:

7th Sphere, Satyaloka: The sphere of God, Sat - the only Real Substance in the universe.

6th Sphere, Tapoloka: Eternal Patience

5th Sphere, Janaloka: Sphere of spiritual reflection, wherein the idea of separate existence of Self originates.

4th Sphere, Maharloka: Sphere of the Atom, the beginning of the creation of Darkness, Maya. This, the connecting link, is the only way between spiritual and the material creation, and is called the Door.

3rd Sphere, Swarloka: Sphere of magnetic aura, the electricities.

2nd Sphere, Bhuvarloka: The sphere of electric attributes. It is conspicuous by the presence of the fine matters only.

1st Sphere, Bhuloka: The lowest sphere, the sphere of gross material creation, which is always visible to everyone.”
― Yukteswar Giri, The Holy Science

“When Divine Love becomes well developed, Ignorance (Maya) begins to be withdrawn.”
― Yukteswar Giri, The Holy Science

“Your unhappiness is the gap between what you feel you deserve and what you get.”
― Anupam S Shlok

“As Hindu thought and metaphysical experiences evolved even further (as I said, the Hindu lineage is very long), the two previous focuses of exploration—nature and the individual—were combined. You could find the Eternal by either means, they discovered, and they combined the two in the form of a summary of all previous findings. This summary was called the Bhagavad Gita.”
― Matthew Barnes, The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 101: a modern, practical guide, plain and simple.

“The ultimate lesson of the Upanishads is that God must not be sought as something far away, separate from us, but rather as the closest, most intimate aspects of our own being.”
― Matthew Barnes

“Though each of the Vedas may be regarded as a separate work, their composition must have originated contemporaneously. Thus there is no clear division between the notion of the personification of stellar, atmospheric and chthonic phenomena and the henotheistic and henotic notions that finally superseded them. Some members of the brahmin and ksatra classes, and even of the südra, joined secret coteries in the seclusion of the forest and composed radical Äranyakas and Upanisads, which rejected ritual sacrifice as the sole means of liberation (moksa), and introduced a monistic doctrine. Such ideas challenged the stereotyped theological dogmas and revitalized religion in India. So great was their impact that the Äranyakas and Upanishads were finally regarded as the fulfilment of Vedic nascent aspirations, and therefore called the Vedanta, the end or conclusion ‘anta’ of the Veda.”
― Margaret Stutley, Dictionary of Hinduism: Its Mythology, Folklore and Development 1500 BC - AD 1500

“Shankara’s views were gradually accepted, possibly because he presented brahman both as the cosmic principle and as a personal god (isvara), which added emphasis to the teaching of the later Upanisads and to that of Patañjali. Advaita Vedanta thus reinforced the teaching of the Bhagavadgitä and the concept of liberation (mukti) by grace (prasäda), faith (sraddha), and devotion (bhakti). It succeeded in reviving the ancient belief in the affinity of mankind with the world of nature. From being merely one of the darsanas, the Vedanta became an element that permeated all Hindu cults and dissolved sectarian distinctions. It gave to the Supreme Essence (paramätman), Vishnu and Shiva the common, all-inclusive designation, ‘Isvara’.”
― Margaret Stutley, Dictionary of Hinduism: Its Mythology, Folklore and Development 1500 BC - AD 1500

“Buddha himself is reported to have remarked that he has propounded the doctrines which are ekamsika(one sided) and anekamasikas(many-sided). Matilal says that the word was probably another name for anekanta and could be taken as a precursor of the Jaina Anekanta doctrine”
― Radhavallabh Tripathi, Vada in Theory and Practice

“I fought one great battle so terrible the sun itself hid its face from the slaughter.”
― Roger Zelazny, Lord of Light

“Many cultures beat together within the Indian heart.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Vande Vasudhaivam: 100 Sonnets for Our Planetary Pueblo

“Life can be understood, says the Hindu, only on the assumption that each existence is bearing the penalty or enjoying the fruits of vice or virtue in some antecedent life. No deed small or great, good or bad, can be without effect; everything will out. This is the Law of Karma—the Law of the Deed —the law of causality in the spiritual world; and it is the highest and most terrible law of all. If a man does justice and kindness without sin his reward cannot come in one mortal span; it is stretched over other lives in which, if his virtue persists, he will be reborn into loftier place and larger good fortune; but if he lives evilly he will be reborn as an Outcaste, or a weasel, or a dog. This law of Karma, like the Greek Moira or Fate, is above both gods and men; even the gods do not change its absolute operation; or, as the theologians put it, Karma and the will or action of the gods are one. But Karma is not Fate; Fate implies the helplessness of man to determine his own lot; Karma makes him (taking all his lives as a whole) the creator of his own destiny. Nor do heaven and hell end the work of Karma, or the chain of births and deaths; the soul, after the death of the body, may go to hell for special punishment, or to heaven for quick and special reward; but no soul stays in hell, and few souls stay in heaven, forever; nearly every soul that enters them must sooner or later return to earth, and live out its Karma in new incarnations.”
― Will Durant, Our Oriental Heritage

“Name My Caste

My mom who birthed me is one caste
My Dad who raised me another caste
The man I married whose heart I wed
Is from another caste, it's said.

I studied where the caste was cast out,
Where dreams and goals just carried out.
So now you ask, "Which caste are you?"
I ask right back, "Which caste are you?"

You name my caste? I’ll name yours too.
Let’s play this game, just us two.
Doctor, Lawyer, Judge, Police,
PhDs preaching caste, not peace.

You claim to lead, to lift, to guide,
Yet drag old chains you wear with pride.
You move ahead but think behind,
A forward world with backward mind.

I don’t belong to caste or clan,
I only belong to God’s own plan.
So mark me not by caste or past,
I am what God designed to last.”
― Luffina Lourduraj

“The text has to be studied with a great patience, a great passivity, waiting for experience, waiting for light & then waiting for still more light. Insufficient data, haste of conclusions, wilful ramming of one’s own favourite opinions into the text, wilful grasping at an imperfect or unfinished experience, wilful reading of a single narrow truth as the sole meaning of this complex harmony of thought, experience & knowledge which we call the Veda,—these are fruitful sources of error. But if a man can make his mind like a blank slate, if he can enter into the condition of bottomless passivity proper to the state of the calm all-embracing Chaitanya Atma, not attempting to fix what the Truth shall be, but allowing Truth to manifest herself in his soul, then he will find that it is the nature of the Sruti to reveal perfectly its own message…..By entering into communion with the soul of the thinker which still broods behind the inspired language, we come to realise what he saw, and what he put into his words, what waits there to make itself known to us.”
― Gautam Chikermane, Reading Sri Aurobindo