Pious men lift the good from the bad

Long ago, a well-known yogi was traveling along a river bank with his disciples, when he saw a scorpion bobbing up and down in the water. The predatory arthropod was finding it difficult to stay afloat, to which to kind-hearted yogi took pity and dived into the water to save it. But the terrified creature out of his nature stung the man. But that didn’t stop him from saving the creature and finally succeeded to rescue the scorpion.

His students were astonished by this act and questioned him on the same, to which the master replied, ‘It is the nature of the scorpion, and it will sting us when it is scared. It was struggling, it was in pain; it is my nature to help it. Should I give up my nature Just because it stung me?”

This man in discussion is none other than spiritual leader and ardent devotee of Goddess Kali, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa. Reverence and admiration for him amongst Bengali elites led to the formation of the Ramakrishna Mission by his chief disciple Swami Vivekananda. At a mere age of 50 Ramakrishna died of throat cancer. According to traditional accounts, before his death, Ramakrishna transferred his spiritual powers to Vivekananda.

Here are 15 of his inspirational quotes to revive our perspective in life:

• God is in all men, but all men are not in God; that is why we suffer.
• Pray to God that your attachment to such transitory things as wealth, name, and creature comforts may become less and less every day.
• It is easy to talk on religion, but difficult to practice it.
• Sugar and sand may be mixed together, but the ant rejects the sand and goes off with the sugar grain; so pious men lift the good from the bad.
• If you must be mad, be it not for the things of the world. Be mad with the love of God.
• One must be very particular about telling the truth. Through truth one can realize God.
• Work, apart from devotion or love of God, is helpless and cannot stand alone.
• When the divine vision is attained, all appear equal; and there remains no distinction of good and bad, or of high and low.
• Only two kinds of people can attain self-knowledge: those who are not encumbered at all with learning, that is to say, whose minds are not over-crowded with thoughts borrowed from others; and those who, after studying all the scriptures and sciences, have come to realise that they know nothing.
• All religions are true. God can be reached by different religions. Many rivers flow by many ways but they fall into the sea. They all are one.
• The sun can give heat and light to the whole world, but he cannot do so when the clouds shut out his rays. Similarly as long as egotism veils the heart, God cannot shine upon it.
• The supreme purpose and goal for human life… is to cultivate love.
• The winds of grace are always blowing, but you have to raise the sail.
• Many good sayings are to be found in holy books, but merely reading them will not make one religious.
• When the flower blooms, the bees come uninvited.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa