Inspirational Quotes by Swami Chinmayananda (Indian Hindu Spiritual Teacher)

Inspirational Quotations by Swami Chinmayananda (Indian Hindu Spiritual Teacher)

Swami Chinmayananda Saraswati (1916–93,) originally Balakrishna Menon, was an Indian Hindu spiritual teacher of the Neo-Vedānta tradition. He founded the Chinmaya Mission, a nonprofit organization that runs schools, hospitals, and clinics worldwide.

Born in Ernakulam, Kerala, Swami Chinmayananda studied law and English at the universities of Madras and Lucknow and started a career in journalism. He became a pupil of Swami Śivānanda Saraswati. Throughout his decades-long spiritual life, Swami Chinmayananda taught jñāna yajñá (“wisdom worship”)—his quest for spiritual liberation through the study of the sacred texts.

In 1953, Swami Chinmayananda founded the Chinmaya Mission for the teaching of the Vedānta philosophy, and for the promotion of Indian culture and social service. He was also influential in the 1964 establishment of the Vishva Hindu Parishad, now a Hindu nationalist organization.

Swami Chinmayananda wrote 35 books on the Upaniṣads and the Bhagavad Gītā, in addition to a set of interpretations of Ādi Śaṅkarācārya’s Bhaja Govindam and Vivekacūḍāmaṇi.

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Swami Chinmayananda

Inspirational Quotes by Swami Chinmayananda (Indian Hindu Spiritual Teacher)

Universe is a cosmos and not a chaos. There exists a mental affinity; a scientific law;
a rhythm of mental relationship in which the entire living world is held together, in one web of love.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Don’t put the key to your happiness in someone else’s pocket.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Love is the heart of all religions; the theme of all classical works of art and literature; the song of all devotees. Scientists know only what love does, not what love is. Love is to human hearts what the sun is to flowers.
—Swami Chinmayananda

The secret of success behind all men of achievement, lies in the faculty of applying their intellect in all their activities, without being mislead by any surging emotions or feelings. The secret of success in life lies in keeping the head above the storms of the heart.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Strange! Wealth estranges us all. It is all very strange, the money psychology! When you have not got any, you will pant to get some! When you get some, you grow jealous of others who have more, and feel conceited among those who have less.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Yoga is skill in action.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Plan out your work, then work out your plan.
The former without the latter is a sheer waste.
The latter without the former is mere unproductive confusion.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Introspect daily, detect diligently, negate ruthlessly.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Faith is, ‘To believe what you do not see’, the reward of which is, ‘you see what you believed’.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Work without faith and prayer is like an artificial flower without fragrance.
—Swami Chinmayananda

To listen is not merely to hear.
We in life, hear but very rarely do we know how to listen.
To Listen is to hear, with an intellectual alertness and attention of awareness.
—Swami Chinmayananda

The greatness in an ideology is not, in fact, in the ideology;
it is in the subject which lives that ideology.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Don’t die while living, live after you are dead.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Never complain, about the number of hours you have put in to do a job. Your nobility must estimate how much of you was put into each hour of your daily work.
—Swami Chinmayananda

All disturbances and challenges rise not only from our relationship with others,
but in our attitude to all other things and beings.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Love is a consistent passion to give, not a meek persistent hope to receive.
The only demand of life is the privilege to love all.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Spiritual unfoldment cannot take place merely because of an intellectual appreciation of the theory of perfection. Evolution takes place only when a corresponding change in the subjective life is accomplished.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Out of purity and silence come the words of power.
—Swami Chinmayananda

To forget oneself totally, one’s mind should keep awake at every moment. A mind that has forgotten the past and the future, that is awake to the now, to the present, expresses the highest concentration of intelligence. It is alert, it is watchful, it is inspired. The actions of a man who has such a mind are exceptionally creative and perfect. Verily to forget oneself totally, is to be in perfection.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Appreciating the mind as ‘ALL SILENCE’, ‘I AM’ is meditation.
—Swami Chinmayananda

To be patient means to suffer something that hinders or hurts us, and still retain our self-composure. How many difficulties, with their consequent unpleasantness and discord, could be smoothed over and almost entirely eliminated by patience. Patience always elevates and strengthens our character. We need it not only with others but also with ourselves.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Everyone points to the other man, who, according to him, is happier. But the only one, who has the courage to declare that he is truly happy, is he who has relinquished all his passions and hungers from within.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Some act till they meet obstacles, others act inspite of obstacles and conquer them; but some act not fearing the possibility of some obstacles, that might arise enroute.
—Swami Chinmayananda

History is full of instances, wherein, victory would have been to the vanquished, if only they had battled a little longer! We often fail for lack of perseverance in our efforts. We leave our work half done in our impatience. Every job demands its quota of efforts. Never give up too soon.
—Swami Chinmayananda

The greatness is not what we do but, unavoidably, it is always in how we do what we do.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Our present work may be great or small.
Yet, the important thing is to do it well.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Character is formed from the repeated choice of thoughts and action.
Make the right choice – You shall have a firm and noble character.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Stop all your attachments to false values. In an ever changing world, there is nothing worthwhile for us to desire or weep for. Joys and sorrows are bound come in human life; they are just like the two sides of the same coin.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Hindu culture is essentially based upon the sacrifice implied in duty, and not upon acquisition, which is implied in rights.
—Swami Chinmayananda

In life, the glory lies not in the quarry, but in the chase.
The success is not in the trophy won,
but in the race run … .
—Swami Chinmayananda

‘Surrender inspite of Freedom’ is the way of wisemen.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Wisdom is the assimilated knowledge in us, gained from an intelligent estimation and close study of our own direct and indirect experience in the world.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Charity is an attempt wherein I try to expand and bring into the ambit of my life, all others around me and grow to consider the other man’s needs and requirements as important as my own personal needs. To live seeking an identity thus, with at least those who are immediately around me, is to live away from the suffocating selfishness and the throttling grip of my body-consciousness.
—Swami Chinmayananda

To define God is to defile God.
—Swami Chinmayananda

What you have is all His Gift to you.
What you do with what you have is your Gift to Him … .
—Swami Chinmayananda

Know what to Do.
Do it Yourself.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Mind can make a hell of heaven.
Or a heaven of hell.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Mind alone is maya at play.
—Swami Chinmayananda

Disappointment can come only to those who make appointments with the future.
—Swami Chinmayananda

The spirit of Advaita is not to keep away from anything, but to keep in tune with everything.
—Swami Chinmayananda