Ramana Maharshi Quotes

The degree of freedom from unwanted thoughts and the degree of concentration on a single thought are the measures to gauge spiritual progress.

Sit in meditation ! But do not think ! Look only at your mind ! You will see thoughts coming into it ! Before they can enter, throw these away from your mind till your mind is capable of entire silence.

The mental ability to concentrate is inherent to all; it is not extraordinary or mysterious. Meditation is not something that a Yogi has to teach you; you already have the ability to shut out thoughts.

I used to meditate until I learned to stop thinking.

Be true to the thought of the moment and avoid distraction. Other than continuing to exert yourself, enter into nothing else, but go to the extent of living single thought by single thought.

The main factor in meditation is to keep the mind active in its own pursuit without taking in external impressions or thinking of other matters.

The mind is a monkey, hopping around from thought to thought, image to image. Rarely do more than a few seconds go by in which the mind can remain single-pointed, empty.

When reading, only read. When eating, only eat. When thinking, only think.

Writing is a very focused form of meditation. Just as good as sitting in a lotus position.

The problem is to keep the monkey mind from running off into all kinds of thoughts.

Meditation is difficult for many people because their thoughts are always on some distant object or place. One form of meditation is to label the thought as it appears and then choose to let it go.

Through meditation and by giving full attention to one thing at a time, we can learn to direct attention where we choose.

If you take an hour out of your day to meditate, you will progress ten-fold. By staying mentally focused, you can let your worries go.

You don't meditate once and suddenly your life turns around. What it does is it lets you train your brain to be able to become more stable in an action-oriented way.

You cannot turn your brain off or stop your thoughts, but you can try while meditating not to become too invested in them. This is called transcendental meditation, which is the kind I practice.

Meditation is sticking to one thought. That single thought keeps away other thoughts; distraction of mind is a sign of its weakness; by constant meditation it gains strength.

Learning to focus attention and concentration is very useful; meditation can help you do that.

When one makes the mind stick to one thought, the mind becomes rock-steady and the energy is conserved.

The mind is running on all sides to think about many things, - what we call thoughts coming from outside. We must withdraw the mind from these distractions and make it abide in the self. Thus guarding the peace within we shall have to do the work without.

If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim.

In order to meditate correctly, you must have knowledge.

Meditation does not mean just sitting quietly for five or ten minutes. It requires conscious effort. The mind has to be made calm and quiet; at the same time, it has to be vigilant so as not to allow any distracting thoughts or desires to enter.

As the fletcher whittles and makes straight his arrows, so the master directs his straying thoughts.

Meditation is not passive sitting in silence. It is sitting in awareness, free from distraction, and realizing the clear understanding that arises from concentration.

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.