Anandamayi Ma, a Hindu saint, is revered alongside her contemporaries, such as Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Aurobindo, and Paramahansa Yogananda.
Known for her joyous and heartwarming presence, Anandamayi Ma was not dogmatic or prescriptive in her spiritual approach, but instead invited everyone to have their own personal experience with the divine.
In her lifetime, she made many statements on spirituality and how to implement it into daily life, and how to cultivate insight into divine awareness.
In this article, we’ll summarize our favorite quotes on the below topics:
- Anandamayi Ma Quotes On Life And Reality
- Anandamayi Ma Quotes On God
- Anandamayi Ma Quotes On Spiritual Instruction
- Anandamayi Ma Quotes On Devotion
On Life And Reality
A lot of spiritual and religious scripture is doctrine and explanation on what the essence of reality is. Blueprints and interpretations of what exists right in front of us through our senses.
Gurus and sages over millennia have expounded their own commentary on descriptions of life and its divine nature.
Anandamayi Ma paraphrases a lot of Bhagavad Gita sentiment when describing the nature of reality, such as ‘That which IS’ – i.e. consciousness is not a property of Brahman but its very essence.
There is also a real tone of positivity and pervading love in all of her quotes, in which there is a strong undertone of celebration of life and reality.
Anandamayi Ma Quotes On Life
- “Reality is beyond speech and thought. Only that which can be expressed in words is being said. But what cannot be put into language is indeed That which IS.”
- “As you love your own body, so regard everyone as equal to your own body. When the Supreme Experience supervenes, everyone’s service is revealed as one’s own service. Call it a bird, an insect, an animal or a man, call it by any name you please, one serves one’s own Self in every one of them.”
- “Ever afterward, though the dance of creation changes around me in the hall of eternity, I shall be the same.”
- “I find one vast garden spread out all over the universe. All plants, all human beings, all higher mind bodies are about in this garden in various ways, each has his own uniqueness and beauty. Their presence and variety give me great delight. Every one of you adds with his special feature to the glory of the garden.”
- “Divine happiness, even the tiniest particle of a grain of it, never leaves one again; and when one attains to the essence of things and finds one’s Self – this is supreme happiness. When it is found, nothing else remains to be found; the sense of want will not awaken anymore, and the heart’s torment will be stilled forever. Do not be satisfied with fragmentary happiness, which is invariably interrupted by shocks and blows of fate; but become complete, and having attained to perfection, be yourself.”
On God
By extension, in a spiritual rooting in Vedic philosophy, God is indivisible from life, or reality. These quotes continue to explain the true nature of reality, but with a focus on a divine consciousness, or God.
Anandamayi Ma Quotes On God
- “Always bear this in mind: Everything is in God’s hands, and you are His tool to be used by Him as He pleases. Try to grasp the significance of ‘all is His’. and you will immediately feel free from all burdens. What will be the result of your surrender to Him? None will seem alien, all will be your very own Self.”
- “It may be asked, why there cannot be one and the same path for all? Because He reveals Himself in infinite ways and forms – verily, The One is all of them.”
- “The same inexpressible Truth is experienced in two ways: as Self-luminous Silence, or as the Eternal Play of the One.”
- “In whichever direction you may turn your gaze you will find One Eternal Indivisible Being manifested. Yet, it is not at all easy to detect this Presence, because He interpenetrates everything.”
- “There is One unchanging indivisible Reality which, though unmanifest, reveals Itself in infinite multiplicity and diversity.”
- “For one who knows me, I am one with him; for one who wants to know me, I am very near to him; and for one who does not know me, I am a beggar before him.”
- “When by the flood of your tears, the inner and the outer have fused into One, you will find Her whom you sought with such anguish, nearer than the nearest, the very breath of life, the very core of every heart.”
- “Who is it that loves and who that suffers? He alone stages a play with Himself; who exists save Him? The individual suffers because he perceives duality. It is duality which causes all sorrow and grief. Find the One everywhere and in everything and there will be an end to pain and suffering.”
On Spiritual Instruction
Closely linked with her thoughts on devotion, Anandamayi Ma quotes the methods to attain spiritual development, and how to act in the world also.
Spirituality and religion are two different things. Religion often serves as a means of distributing spirituality, but that does not necessarily mean that religion is inherently spiritual.
Think of a banana – the nourishing, sweet flesh of the banana is contained within a casing or vessel, which is the banana skin.Religion is like the banana skin, while spirituality is the tasty fruit inside.
Sages across all religions, whether monotheistic or polytheistic, serve as conduits for their respective religions’ internal spiritual nourishment.
Anandamayi Ma distills her own brand of spiritual instruction in the following quotes.
Anandamayi Ma Quotes On Spiritual Instruction
- “How many lives are frittered away, age after age, in endless coming and going. Find out who you are!”
- “Wherever God may keep you at any time, from there itself you must undertake the pilgrimage to God-realization. In all forms, in action and non-action is He, the One Himself. While attending to your work with your hands, keep yourself bound to Him by sustaining japa, the constant remembrance of Him in your heart and mind. In God’s empire, it is forgetfulness of Him that is detrimental. The way to Peace lies in the remembrance of Him and of Him alone.”
- “Acquire a firm will and the utmost patience.”
- “Precious gems are profoundly buried in the earth and can only be extracted at the expense of great labor.”
- “When the mind is full of worldly desires, it is their very nature to confuse the mind. Withdraw the mind from outer things and turn it inwards.”
- “As you love your own body, so regard everyone as equal to your own body. When the Supreme Experience supervenes, everyone’s service is revealed as one’s own service. Call it a bird, an insect, an animal or a man, call it by any name you please, one serves one’s own Self in every one of them.”
- “Try to treat with equal love all the people with whom you have relations. Thus the abyss between ‘myself’ and ‘yourself’ will be filled in, which is the goal of all religious worship.”
- “Enquire: ‘Who am I?’ and you will find the answer. Look at a tree: from one seed arises a huge tree; from it comes numerous seeds, each one of which in its turn grows into a tree. No two fruits are alike. Yet it is one life that throbs in every particle of the tree. So, it is the same Atman everywhere.”
- “Widen your shriveled heart, make the interests of others your own and serve them as much as you can by sympathy, kindness, presents and so forth. So long as one enjoys the things of this world and has needs and wants, it is necessary to minister to the needs of one’s fellow men. Otherwise one cannot be called a human being. Whenever you have the opportunity, give to the poor, feed the hungry, nurse the sick – do service as a religious duty and you will come to know by direct perception that the person served, the one who serves and the act of service are separate only in appearance.”
On Devotion
The key tenet of Anandamayi Ma’s spiritual teaching on God, understanding God, and employing devotion of God is not to ascribe blind faith, but to recognize the true essence of reality through empirical evidence.
This is a really beautiful application of religious thought, because it implies that awareness of God is experiential.
Anandamayi Ma Quotes On Devotion
- “To believe in Him under any particular form is not enough. Accept Him in His numberless forms, shapes and modes of being, in everything that exists. Aim at the whole and all your actions will be whole.”
- “Joys and sorrows are time-born and cannot last. Therefore, do not be perturbed by these. The greater the difficulties and obstructions, the more intense will be your endeavor to cling to His feet and the more will your prayer increase from within. And when the time is ripe, you will gain mastery over this power.”
- Either melt by devotion the sense of separateness, or burn it by knowledge-for what is it that melts or burns? Only that which by its nature can be melted or burnt; namely the idea that something other than your Self exists. What will happen then? You come to know your Self.”
- “Whether you worship Christ, Krishna, Kali or Allah, you actually worship the one Light that is also in you, since It pervades all things.”
- “Those who desire to remain intoxicated by Reality do not require artificial intoxicants. Indulging in false things will only increase falsity, for every direction is indeed infinite. Those who desire the truly genuine Thing proceed of themselves with great intensity so as to progress in their sadhana.”
Further Reading
If you’ve enjoyed reading these quotes, why not check out these other quote articles:
