Sarada Devi

However strong or beautiful this body may be, its culmination is in those three pounds of ashes. And still people are so attached to it. Glory be to God.

— Sarada Devi

The world is the Lord's. He created it for His own play. We are mere pawns in His game. Wherever He keeps us and in whatever way He does so, we have to abide by it contentedly.

— Sarada Devi

In the course of time one does not feel even the existence of God. After attaining enlightenment one sees that gods and deities are all Maya.

— Sarada Devi

A person may have no relatives anywhere, but Mahamaya may make him keep a cat and thus make him worldly. This is how She plays!

— Sarada Devi

One must have reverence for one's Guru. … One's chance of salvation lies in one's reverence for him. Observe how the disciples of the Master revere him. Out of this reverence for him they revere not only all the members of his family, but even the cats from his home-district!

— Sarada Devi

The happiness of the world is transitory. The less you become attached to the world, the more you enjoy peace of mind.

— Sarada Devi

The world is going on because not all can be free of desires. People with desires are born again and again.

— Sarada Devi

In one word, one should desire of God desirelessness. For desire alone is at the root of all suffering. It is the cause of repeated births and deaths. It is the obstacle in the way of liberation.

— Sarada Devi

Do you notice this human body? Today it is and tomorrow it is not. And the world is full of misery and pain. Why should one be eager to have another birth? The body is never free from its attendant troubles.

— Sarada Devi

The difference between a great soul and an ordinary man is this: the latter weeps while leaving this body, whereas the former laughs. Death seems to him a mere play.

— Sarada Devi

Whether you jump into water or are pushed into it, your cloth will get drenched. Is it not so? Meditate every day, as your mind is yet immature. Constant meditation will make the mind one-pointed.

— Sarada Devi

If you do not pray to God, what is that to Him? It is only your misfortune.

— Sarada Devi

The conjunction of the day and the night is the most auspicious time for calling on God. The mind remains pure at this time.

— Sarada Devi

The mantra purifies the body. Man becomes pure by repeating the name of God. So repeat His name always.

— Sarada Devi

Practise meditation, and by and by your mind will be so calm and fixed that you will find it hard to keep away from meditation.

— Sarada Devi

One cannot escape from the effects of one's past karma. But if a person lives a prayerful life, he gets off with only the prick of a thorn in the leg where he was to suffer from a deep cut.

— Sarada Devi

You should work, no doubt. Work saves the mind from going astray. But prayer and meditation also are necessary. You must sit for meditation at least once in the morning and once in the evening. That will be like the helm of a boat. When one sits in meditation in the evening, there is self-examination in respect of the work done in the course of the day.

— Sarada Devi

Ordinary human love results in misery. Love for God brings blessedness.

— Sarada Devi

Many take the name of God after receiving blows in life. But he who can offer his mind like a flower at the feet of the Lord right up from childhood is indeed blessed.

— Sarada Devi

An unmarried person is half free whether he prays to God or not. He will advance towards Him with rapid strides when he feel a little drawn towards Him.

— Sarada Devi

You can practise pranayama a little, but not much, otherwise the brain will get heated. If the mind becomes calm of itself, what is then the necessity of practising pranayama? The practise of pranayama and asana often brings occult powers, and occult powers lead one astray.

— Sarada Devi

First offer to God whatever you eat. One must not eat unoffered food. As your food is, so will be your blood. From pure food you get pure blood, pure mind, and strength. Pure mind begets ecstatic love (prema-bhakti).

— Sarada Devi

The goal of life is to realize God and to be always immersed in thought in Him.

— Sarada Devi

Everything depends on the mind. Nothing can be achieved without purity of mind. It is said, "The aspirant may have received the grace of the guru, the Lord and the Vaishnavas; but he comes to grief without the grace of 'one' ". That 'one' is the mind. The mind of the aspirant should be gracious to him.

— Sarada Devi

What else does one obtain by realization of God? Does one grow two horns? No, the mind becomes pure, and through a pure mind one attains knowledge and awakening.

— Sarada Devi

The mind is everything. It is in the mind alone that one feels pure and impure. A man, first of all, must make his own mind guilty and then alone can he see another man's guilt.

— Sarada Devi

As clouds are blown away by the wind, the thirst for material pleasures will be driven away by the utterance of the Lord's name.

— Sarada Devi

Don't puzzle the mind with too many inquiries. One finds it difficult to put one single thing into practising, but dares invite distraction by filling the mind with too many things.

— Sarada Devi

To myself, the stateliness of her courtesy and her great open mind are almost as wonderful as her sainthood. — Sister Nivedita

— Sarada Devi

Does one get faith by mere studying of books? Too much reading creates confusion. The Master used to say that one should learn from the scriptures that God alone is real and the world illusory.

— Sarada Devi

God cannot be realized without love. Yes, sincere love.

— Sarada Devi

The grace of God is the thing that is needful. One should pray for the grace of God.

— Sarada Devi

If one calls upon Him repeatedly, He becomes compassionate; and so a devoted attachment comes into being. This love for love's sake should be hidden from all eyes.

— Sarada Devi

Realization of God cannot be achieved without ecstatic love for Him.

— Sarada Devi

The whole world is a dream; even this (the waking state) is a dream … What you dreamt last night does not exist now.

— Sarada Devi

Everything, husband, wife, or even the body, is only illusory. These are all shackles of illusion. Unless you can free yourself from these bondages, you will never be able to go to the other shore of the world.

— Sarada Devi